Ragnarök
by Kaname1993
Summary: A blend of PPG & Norse Mythology-Based in Medieval times the nine realms are under the rule of Odin. But times change and with the threat of Midgards uprising and Doomsday at hand will the villain behind everything be found in time?- It's official, I'm throwing this on hiatus until I can better deal with it so to any of you seeing this don't read it cause its incomplete.
1. Ragnarok

Ragnarök PPG

Ok this is my very first story so please go easy on me. I'll love it if you could leave reviews to tell me how I'm doing. If you see any mistakes please point them out so I can try to improve and do better next time. Just don't flame or leave messages saying how horrible the story is without at least stating what's wrong with it. Thank you! ^_^

Now to start out I thought I'd try my hand at a little Powerpuff story since I'm rather addicted to it at the moment. And since I wanted to try something fresh, I thought I'd try blending Powerpuff Girls with a little Norse mythology. Who knows, it may have been done before but I sure haven't seen it.

Now I would like to apologize in advance for my horrible butchering of any characters that happens in my story. I just couldn't quite handle all the things the Norse believed. But I will try to keep McCracken's characters as in character as I can though I won't guarantee anything. Sorry again if I offend anyone in any way, shape, or form.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything except the story itself, the plotline, and this lovely chocolate chip cookie. All characters belong to their rightful owners.

Summary: Can't think of one right now... But I'm starting off my story with a few character bios. Please tell me whether you like them or not and what I could do to make this better.

And for those of you who may be confused by my work. The names I used for my original characters and the Powerpuff/Rowdyruff names are in Latin.

Now for a few notes on Norse Mythology for those unfamiliar with it in the simplest way I can explain so as not to bore anyone. Most of which I got from wiki and other information sources.

1. Asgard: The country or capital of the Norse gods, surrounded by an incomplete wall attributed to a Hirimthurs riding the stallion Svadilfari. Valhalla is located within Agar. Odin and his wife Frigg, are the rulers of Asgard.

2. Vanaheimr: The home of the Vanir. A group of gods associated with fertility wisdom and the ability to see the future.

3. Alfheim: Elf home. That which is called Alfheim is one, where dwell the peoples called Light Elves. Dark Elves dwell down in the earth, and are unlike in appearance, but far more unlike in nature. The Light Elves are fairer to look upon than the sun, but the Dark Elves are blacker than pitch. (Sounds kinda racist in my opinion..._)

4. Jötunheimr: Homeland of the giants of Norse Mythology - Rock and Frost Giants. Separated from Midgard by high mountains or dense forests.

5. Midgard: Middle enclosure. The home of man. (Need I say more?)

6. Niflheim: "Mist Home", "Abode of Mist", or "Mist World" A location which overlaps with the notions of Niflheim and Hel. One of two primordial realms, the other being Muspelheim. Between these two realms creation began. Later it became the location of Hel.

7. Muspelheim: "Flame Land" also called Múspell, is a realm of fire. Home to the fire jotunn or the sons of Múspell, and Surtr, their ruler. It is Fire and the land to the north, Niflheim is Ice. The two mixed and created water from the melting ice in Ginnugagap.

8. Hel: Hel, the location, shares a name with Hel, a female figure associated with the location. The abode of those who did not die a heroic death.

9. Svartálfar: ("Swart Elves" or "Black Elves", singular Svartáfr) Beings who dwell in Svartálfahemir ("World of the Swart Elves" or World of the Black Elves") also known as the world of the Dwarves.

Each world is connected by the "World Tree" Yggdrasil. With Asgard at its top. Chewing at its roots in Niflheim is Nidhogg, a ferocious serpent or dragon. Yggdrasil is often referred to as an immense ash tree and considered very holy. The gods go to Yggdrasil daily to hold their courts. (How I got the prologue)

Ok there's more to it but since most of you probably won't be reading any of this anyway, I'll just put the info you'll need in the Authors Notes at the beginning of the chapters you'll need them in.

Thank you to anyone who actually read all this. Sorry it's so long. ^_^'


	2. Blossom

Glacie Regina Blossom

17 Tri Moons (Age)

The upcoming queen of Niflheim. Born and raised in the primordial world of ice with only her servants and the inhabitants of Hel to keel her company, Blossom was given the name Glacie Regina. From birth, Blossom, with her rose eyes and head of flaming locks, was dubbed "the child of prophecy". From the very moment she could utter a sound, Blossom had been separated from the outer world and trained by Nix (a wandering Vanir). With incomparable ease, Blossom absorbed all given information like water to a sponge. By the time she reached her eighth year, Blossom's knowledge could surpass the wisdom of even Nix himself. With nothing left to learn in her frozen castle, Blossom began to explore the snow capped depths of Hel. On one such occasion she stumbled upon the goddess Hel herself, conversing with Nidhogg. The dragon in a rage at the time and nearly wounded Hel in his fit. With Blossom's help, Hel was able to calm the reptile attached to Yggdrasil's root. The three became quite close, though the girl was far more attached to the dragon, as his insight traveled far beyond the icy reaches of her kingdom. Though she yearned to see the world, Blossom was content. At the dawn of her thirteenth year Blossom was to meet the two sons of Surtr from Muspelheim. Against her will, Blossom was arranged to marry Vertex, the elder of the sons. With no other choice Blossom complied. But at the height of winter that same year, disaster struck claiming the life of the young prince. From that day on Blossom truly became Glacie Regina, raising walls of near impenetrable ice around her heart and retreating so far into herself that any whom looked upon her cold emotionless form, without a doubt, would know her as an inhabitant of Niflheim. Though her icy demeanor keeps most souls at bay a select few are able to worm their way past her defenses. Fewer still are able to invoke the true fury of her fiery temper.


	3. Brick

Ignis Rex Brick  
>17 Tri Moons<p>

The second in line for the throne of Muspelheim. Brick though smaller than most jotunn, was without a doubt a true son of Muspell. From his flaming red hair and crimson eyes, to his fiery temper with powers to match, Brick was truly a sight to behold. From a young age Brick worked his way up the ranks, becoming a master of the element at an exceedingly young age. Though try as he might, Brick was always a few steps behind Vertex his elder brother. Tired of being overshadowed by his brother Brick tried every trick he could. Even going as far as summoning the legendary Phoenix Accendo as his familiar. But still his brother took the glory. At the dawn of his thirteenth year Brick and Vertex were sent to Niflheim to meet the young princess. He grew fond of the princess during this time, though once word of the marriage reached his ears he immediately drew back not wanting to be second best once again. Brick then spent most of his time avoiding the princess in her icy home. After a time, and an argument with Nidhogg, Brick realized how childish he was acting, but his apology to the princess came too late. With the death of Vertex, Brick was immediately forced to return home without even so much as a goodbye. The burden to surpass his brother was increased tenfold as he was now expected to become the new king. When finally he was able to meet her again she surprised him, as she was now more frigid than her very homelands. Her icy demeanor only proved to anger the boy resulting in countless arguments between the two, occasionally resulting in a fight before someone intervened.


	4. Buttercup

Ventus Trax Buttercup  
>17 Tri Moons<p>

One of the exceedingly few females born in Svartálfaheimr. Being a female in a mostly male population had the girl fighting for her independence from a young age. Though most looked down upon the rebellious girl, none stood in her way as the Svartálfar did not believe in forcing choices upon others. Unfortunately for Buttercup this did nothing to stop the ridicule of her peers. The coming years found the girl fighting for her way of life. Her monstrous strength and adamant resolution eventually earned her passage into the Dark Elves "Cavern Brawl" (kinda like a tournament). Many doubted her and all believed she would eventually drop out. Thus the entire populace was stunned when she not only stayed in the tournament but won as well, earning the title "Ventus Trax" and becoming the first female gladiator while simultaneously earning the first "strongest" title for her gender as well. Though her new status brought fame, Buttercup grew bored. With no one strong enough to challenge her, she found herself longing for change. The times after her title found the girl wandering the long forgotten corridors of her underground home. The excursions would always end with Buttercup returning with one of many colossus monsters in tow. Each and every slain beast would be used to the utmost. The hides, fangs, and bones becoming new weapons while any leftovers would be given to those that could make use of them.


	5. Butch

Terra Vagus Butch  
>17 Tri Moons<p>

An in habitant of Jötunheimr. An oddball even by jotunn standards, Butch was always more of a loner. His attitude and temper often got him into trouble, while his size and strength gave him fame. Before long the boy had become something of an icon. Unfortunately his anger got the better of him one day and what was supposed to be a playful competition resulted in the injury and eventual death of his opponent. Horrified by his actions, Butch fled his village. He took up the life of a wanderer traveling from place to place. During this time he trained himself, gaining a better hold of his temper and strength. Sadly for Butch his travels left him a bit unstable. The lack of companionship on his long journeys resulted in him picking up a "pet" as he calls it, though in actuality the small turtle is in fact his familiar. When bored, Butch can often be found conversing with Tremo (It's a familiar. It does talk back. He ain't that crazy.) or absently feeding said reptile specialized rocks that cause it to grow. Though most regard him as slow or dim witted, Butch is anything but. His knowledge comes from experience rather than study. The downside to this being that he developed a severe case of dyslexia and an extremely short attention span.


	6. Boomer

Fulmen Divinus Boomer  
>17 Tri Moons<p>

Born into the infamous Vanir race, Boomer is out of his element to say the least. Like all others in Vanaheimr, Boomer's studies began at a young age. The only problem was… the boy had no interest in academics. There was no denying the boys intelligence but he couldn't quite hold a candle to the rest of the Vanir. He was exceedingly bright when compared to other races but on the same token he was unusually slow. As such, Boomer often found himself to be a living contradiction. For while he could easily solve previously deemed insolvable puzzles and riddles, he was more likely than not found staring blankly into space wandering the labyrinths of the library or gardens. But for what the boy lacked in his studies he more than made up for in his ever cheerful, upbeat personality. In later years Boomer developed an interest in storms, or more specifically the electrical currents in the clouds. After a few short circuits and more than a few blowouts, Boomer learned how to control the currents using himself as a conductor. Sometime after he even developed the ability to create the electrical waves he controlled. Though his newfound ability frightened some of the Vanir, Boomer proved oblivious to the fact. He later spent most of his time holed up in his room or near lakes and ponds experimenting with his powers.


	7. Bubbles

Aqua Angelus Bubbles  
>17 Tri Moons<p>

In the sun kissed realm of Alfheim, Bubbles was born into a long line of peacekeepers. Her ever sunny outlook and stunning personality made her a well loved member of the Light Elves. From the moment she was born Bubbles brought smiles to those around her. Needless to say she was perfect for the job, spreading love and happiness wherever she went. In her younger years Bubbles found a love of singing. With the voice of an angel she would sing to the plants and animals around her. Even old withered flowers would somehow bloom for her, while even the most ferocious of beasts became tame kittens in her presence. The young girl was later taught the art of dance which she applied in the waters. In doing so she found her element. Before long Bubbles was twisting, turning, and twirling with ease through the flowing waters, thus earning her name.


	8. Prologue

Prologue

Disclaimer: I only own the plot line. The characters and figures I use all belong to their original owners.

•••000•••

In the times of old where magic reigned supreme, nine worlds reside. At the heart of it all stood a colossus ash tree whose gigantean frame outlasted time. Its branches stretched to the high heavens while its roots had no end. At the base of its mighty trunk was a stone table, weathered and cracked but still it held true even as mighty hands crashed down upon it.

"We must stop this madness, this, this UPRISING!" One figure shouted.

"I blame the human rebels!" another, more gruff voice spoke.

"Of course you would blame the humans Dark Elf!" came the deep baritone of a sarcastic reply. "Anything to cover up your own behind."

"This coming from the mouth of a jotunn, the biggest rule breakers of all? Hah!" a clear voice rang.

"SILENCE!" a thundering voice boomed over the shouts and jeers. When all noise died away, a single man stood at the head of the table, his every move commanding respect from those that looked upon him. Though not large enough to be considered a jotuun he was by far larger than any mortal man. His arms bulged with taunt muscles that rippled beneath his golden armor. A weathered helm of gold encased his face, a pair of wings rising up from the sides. There was an otherworldly air about the man as he stood tall and proud at the head of the table, obviously the one in charge. None dared to challenge him as he waited until he was sure he had the attention of all before he spoke once more. "Our ways have held strong and true throughout the years. For centuries we have reigned supreme. We have built castles and fortresses. Brought about great cities and monuments. But alas the times are beginning to change…"

Those at the table remained silent, awaiting their leader's words once more. None dared to intrude into the ever growing quiet even as it became unbearable, for fear of the great mans wrath. After a time a small, quiet voice rang out clear as crystal. "Perhaps we need to find new voices?"

"Where would you get a ridiculous idea like that?" Scoffed the deep baritone voice.

"Oi! I agree with him for once! You Light Elves have been out in the sun too long!" snapped the gruff voice.

"It would be a wise choice to seek out new information." All heads turned to the figure clad in white, whom had been silent up until this point. "Sire, I believe we should bring new lights into these great halls. It would-" the voice was cut off then as those at the stone table began to shout in protest, each wanting to be heard.

"You Vanir are just greedy for more information!"

"Yah! Your even willing to have us all replaced!"

The figure clad in gold remained silent, deep in thought. When finally he spoke once more his voice carried out over the uproar with a startling calm. "Perhaps you are right… Though it pains me to admit… perhaps new voices are needed…" when the others began to protest he simply raised his hand silencing them once more. "I am not saying we need to be replaced. But new insight could prove valuable. The time of Ragnarök is at hand! We cannot waste our time arguing amongst ourselves." he turned to the figure in white whom had become silent once more. "I am putting you in charge of finding those worthy of my time." It was painfully obvious that his words held a double meaning but the smaller man knew better than to question less he fall victim of the larger mans fury.

With that said the golden figure stood, walking away from the stone table. With a shrill whistle he called forth his steed, in the form of an eight legged horse. Once upon its back he quickly disappeared as if he had never been there at all. Those who remained at the table were quick to follow, one by one they disappeared into the distance until none remained.

Unbeknownst to all, a small figure lurked in the shadows amongst the limbs of the great ash. "Who knew those senile idiots could learn? But you're all too late! FAR too late!" It chuckled doubling over in mirth. "Those old fools won't know what hit them! Maybe next time they'll think twice before messing with me." With that said it melted into the shadows like a ghost, leaving nothing behind but the whisper of the leaves.

•••000•••

Oh! I think I did pretty well on this. It took a while since I'm doing this all from my cell phone but I made it through!

And for any of you who might be a bit slow to understand this like the friend I asked to proof read. The reason they needed "new voices" was because, like it said, they've been ruling for centuries and times change. Cause none of them are humans, and have been ruling for "centuries" they live a long time. It's always been the same people who are in control so they've been doing the same thing, all this time. But as stated before "TIMES CHANGE" and they need the opinions of the newer generations. Which was also why some of them were getting mad and thinking they were being replaced. So the "new voices" are new people to help them make decisions on how they do things. And for any of you wondering who the people talking are... YOU'RE NOT SUPPOSED TO KNOW! I wrote this in a way that makes you use your imagination to guess who they are even though the dialogue tells WHAT they are (if you pay enough attention).

I hope this helps. And for any who actually needed this I'm sorry if I seemed rude. It's because my friend is an exceptional idiot... It took me almost a whole hour to explain to him what this meant. And I kinda got irritated. The damn guy always manages to make me mad. It's like he's tap-dancing on my last nerve. _

Please leave a review telling me how I did! Thank you to anyone that took the time to actually read all this. Have a nice day! ^_^


	9. Nifilheim

Chapter 1: Niflheim

My very first chapter! XD Now just to clarify I don't actually know what anything from the Norse actually looks like. This is just how I would picture it so if it's not what you expected...TOO BAD! Just kidding! But really I can't help it.

Disclaimer: I don't own anything. Only the plot line and my own ideas.

•••000•••

Howling like savage wolves, the wind twists and turns across the barren tundra. The angry bite of the bitter cold, a harsh reminder of this grim reality. For miles in all directions remained the uniformed white of the snow bleached lands. Where trees should stand formations of ice took it's place, for hardly a leaf grew in this frozen soil.

In the heart of it all, amidst the blood curdling screech of the wind, four spires of ice rise to meet the clouded sky. Thunder rumbles through the swollen expanse of grey as lighting danced upon it's soft underbelly. With a deafening crack, the sky flashed a blinding white, lighting the spires a ghostly blue. Like rippling water, their glassy surfaces pulsed. Upon reaching the end of their rounded bodies, instead of rebounding the movement continued out over a translucent wall. A circular dome flashed to life before dying away once more.

Within the sphere all was still. Not a sound was heard save for the muffled hum of the wind outside. Shrouded in a ghost white mist stood an enormous castle of ice. It's marble like walls traveling farther than the eye could see. A shrill cry pierced the calm before a snow white owl swooped down. With it's small prize now locked in it's talons it took off, swallowed whole by the ever white world once more.

"Ahh. You have returned." High upon the peak of the castle walls stood a man garbed in robes of vibrant blue. Holding out his arm, the snowy owl landed upon it gripping the fabric. In one foot it clutched a small black stone. Holding out his hand the man waited as the bird dropped the rounded item. "Thank you my friend. You have done well." In a swift, fluid movement, the man turned and walked off, the owl climbing up to perch on his shoulder. After ascending a winding staircase the two passed through many a corridor, the inner walls remaining a solid white. Though there was no obvious change in the halls both remains undeterred. The soft clang of shoes echoed, round the deserted area. Coming to a halt the man reached out grasping an almost unnoticeable handle. With the twist of his wrist a door emerged from the ivory walls. Stepping inside he closed it once more.

The room he entered was very different from the deserted corridors he previously crossed. The once white walls were now a gentle blue. The hard flooring covered in a soft rug. A few servants milled about dusting and cleaning, their white hair and porcelain skin blending into the environment. The difference in appearance was now painfully obvious as the two continued on.

"Master Nix! There you are!" rang a voice as a petite maid ran up. "Lady Blossom is waiting for you in the study."

"I was just on my way there now." Nix replied in a cool voice. "Thank you for informing me though."

Shortly after, Nix arrived to a large room. The walls were covered in shelves of books and various items of all sizes. A round table lay in the center of the room. Seated at the table was a girl, her every detail a stark contrast to what surrounded her. Flaming red locks tumbled around her sprawling out on the floor. Florescent pink clothes clung to her perfectly sculpted frame, far unlike what one would expect to see someone wearing in the cold weather. Light pink eyes flashed with intelligence as they captured Nix's vibrant blue robes.

"Outside again huh?"She questioned, her voice ringing like the soft chime of bells. "Did you find anything new?"

"Yes Milady. Nubem has found what looks to have been a river rock." Nix replied, gesturing to the owl as it glided across the room to a small space between the books piled upon the table.

"Well thats rare. Good work Nubem." Blossom said, reaching out to pet the bird as it ruffled it's feathers. "But that's not whats important right now. Did you get the message?"

"Yes Milady. The prince should be arriving tomorrow." Nix's face remained an emotionless mask. 'Hopefully things go well this time around.'

"I swear, if he melts the castle again I'm gonna turn him into a popsicle." Blossom huffed crossing her arms over her chest. "Him and that stupid fire bird of his."

"Now now Milady, you know you'll have to work together with the Young Master." Nix chided, a stern look on his angular face. "After all you've both been chosen as candidates. If you can't get along how could you possibly help at Lord Odin's table?"

"I know, I know." Turning away, the redhead walked over to the open window staring off into the misty landscape below. "He's just so… infuriating!"

"Patience is a virtue Milady."

'One in which I'm severely lacking on his account.' She thought, rolling her bright pink orbs. Though she'd never admit that aloud. She responded instead "Maybe you should try and teach him that. He's got about as much patience as a gold fishes attention span."

"Milady!" Nix scolded, a shocked look gracing his features.

"What?" Blossom turned to him. "It's true and you know it. Don't even try to deny it."

When her tutor refused to make eye contact, the corners of Blossoms mouth turned up in silent victory.

'We'll just have to see what happens then.' Wringing his hands on a strip of fabric from his sleeve, Nix looked skyward. 'Lord Odin, I hope you know what you've gotten us all into.'

•••000•••

Well I hope that was alright. It took me the longest time to write about a snowy landscape since I've never seen snow before. Don't get me wrong, tropical places are nice, but it can only keep your attention for so long before you get bored. And I hope this didn't seem too run-on or anything.

Please leave a review and tell me how I did. Thanks! ^_^ 


	10. Visitors

Chapter 2: Visitors

Disclaimer: I do not own the Powerpuffs or any figures from Norse Mythology.

•••000•••

"Stupid snow. Stupid ice. Stupid wind. Stupid cold!" Within the confines of a small wooden room was a tall figure piled beneath several layers of cloth and blankets, seated upon a long cushioned bench.

'Grumbling about it won't make it any better. Besides, we both know you can't actually get that cold'

"Shut up feather brains!" A pair of crimson eyes appeared from beneath the cloth to glare at the large orange-red bird standing on the bench across the room. "Just because I can't get cold enough to freeze docent mean it ain't cold damn it!"

The bird simply lay down upon the cushion before tucking it's head beneath it's wing, completely ignoring the low growl. 'Some familiar you are.' A small panel above the bird opened then allowing wind and snow to enter the somewhat warm room. "Milord were going to be passing through the barrier any moment now." A deep throaty voice shouted trying to be heard over the howling wind. Not waiting for a reply the panel slid shut once more.

"Its about time." Muttered the figure as he readjusted the cloth, dusting off stray snowflakes that had settled. Moments later a sharp chill ran through his body threatening to freeze the very blood in his veins. "Damn I hate that."

'Admit ably not something one grows accustom to.' The large bird stood up ruffling it's feathers before stretching out a wing to preen at it. 'It seems to get colder each time we pass through.'

"If I know Pink, it's probably on purpose too." Grumbling quietly the figure began to remove the cloth, piling it on the bench. The teen then turned to open a panel in the wall beside him before peering out at the misty white world, displeasure etched across his face.

For any that looked upon this eternally white world it would immediately strike them as a dangerously beautiful place. Outside the barrier the wind would scream like banshees, buffeting the land until it shone like polished crystal. The snow would twist and turn, twirling upon the winds vicious current in breathtaking displays of aerial dynamics. Once within the barrier the formations of ice and rock transformed into perfectly sculpted figures and architect. Before long the mist would take over though, stealing the well trodden path. For any that didn't know the way through it would be like trying to escape the Minotaurs labyrinth blindfolded. But the carriage steeds were well accustom to the blinding mists by now. With sure steps and the echoing clop of hooves they continued on.

"I don't know how they can live here."

'I seem to remember you liking this place well enough the first time you came.' Fluttering to the small windowsill the bird perched, looking out as far as it could. 'I also remember you rolling around in every snowdrift you could find until it actually melted.'

"Shut up Accendo." Growling quietly the teen slumped back into the soft cushions. "Theres only so much one can handle of this colorless place. Nothing but white, grey, blue, and more white. It's damn depressing if you ask me."

'Yet you never refuse to come.'

"You know damn well why I come!" A menacing glint appeared in the teens crimson eyes as he snapped at the bird who screeched defiantly in turn.

'Yet you act like a fledgling each time you do!'

"It's not my fault she acts like a snarky stoic every time I'm here!"

'How many times must I repeat myself.' With an irate squawk, Accendo did exactly as his name implies and lit himself aflame. 'It IS your fault!'

A sharp rap stopped any retort the teen had before it could leave his mouth. "Milord we have arrived." an almost unnoticeable door opened to the left, stopping the argument before it could escalate. Patting his bulky clothing into place the tall youth stepped out onto the frozen path leading to the castle. With a burst of feathers Accendo extinguished the flame before landing upon his companions shoulder.

"Well, I see you haven't changed at all Brick." The sheer lack of emotion in the voice brought the pair up short. A glance to the balcony above confirmed his suspicions. A blur of pink, and there before them stood the princess of Niflheim. He had to admit she had grown a bit since last they met. The neon pink of her clothes wrapped snuggly around her arms before sharply cutting down into a v necked clasp. Beneath it in a slightly lighter shade, was a fitted tube top like shirt that covered down to her hips. From there the previous neon pink took over again, the tight fabric accentuating her long legs. Her hair, now almost ankle length, blew in the soft breeze along with the cherry red strips of fabric dangling from her waist.

A sharp huff had Brick's eyes snapping up to meet her emotionless face, ice pink eyes glaring back at him. The teen mentally cursed himself for he honestly hadn't realized he had been starring at her. Crimson eyes quickly took on a darker tone as he glared, trying to cover his momentary laps. Wether or not she noticed he wasn't really sure for she quickly turned around breezing away. With an effortless tug she opened the enormous sculpted doors. "You coming or not?" Her voice sounded like crystal chimes as she spoke to him. "Well you better hurry up if you are. I'm not gonna stand here waiting."

'Brick! Stop daydreaming!' Accendo dug his talons into Brick's shoulder, the boy barley managing to stifle a yelp of surprise. Though he wanted nothing more than to throttle the bird right there, Brick immediately began following Blossom through the white maze she called home. Though he'd never admit it, the teen was impressed that she could navigate the corridors at all. He had tried to find his way around on his own before only to end up horribly lost on several occasions. In Brick's point of view everything looked exactly the same. How the red head in front of him could tell the difference he'd never know.

An erie silence settled over the three, the only sound being the soft slap of shoes against the hard floor. As they continued down the corridors Brick found himself focusing on the girl before him more and more. Quickly scolding himself he tried to look anywhere but at her. Unfortunately for him she was the brightest color in any direction besides himself, therefore his attention would automatically return to her once more. His eyes had settled on Blossom's long legs before he realized what he was doing. 'Damn it Brick! Stop staring at her you idiot!' he mentally cursed.

A few more mental reprimands and Brick was silently fuming. He hated the girl before him with a burning passion. She was his opposite in every way. Her attitude made him want to scream. The stoic look on her face had him pulling at his hair in frustration. And worse yet, she was the only thing in this entire freaking castle that could remotely gain his attention. It took everything he had not to yell at her. But he wanted her to be angry or to scream at him. Hel he'd take any emotion he could get if it meant he wouldn't have to put up with her "Ice Queen" attitude, as he liked to call it. His blood was boiling by now as he plotted ways to make her snap.

Completely lost in thought, Brick didn't notice a thing until he ran into her. "Hey! What was that for?" the teen snapped. "What you forget how to walk or something?" When he got no reaction out of the girl he grew suspicious. Stepping in front of Blossom he waved a hand in front of her face. She didn't even blink and he was getting uncomfortable. Brick tried snapping his fingers in front of her, when he still got no reaction he turned around. Maybe she was looking at something? Standing beside her he looked down the hall... still nothing.

His lips turned up in a devilish smirk then. He'd get a reaction out of her one way or another. 'Brick! What do you think your doing!' Accendo squawked, shifting unhappily as the teen produced a small flame in his palm. "What, it won't hurt her…much." he replied, reaching out towards the girl.

Wanting the funniest reaction he could get, Brick redirected his hand from her shoulder towards her flank. Fingers just barley touching the fabric he closed his palm around the silk…nothing? She was gone. Jumping back in shock, Brick looked up and down the hallways. 'She couldn't have just disappeared? Could she?'

•••000•••

IM SORRY It took me forever to post this chapter. I was writing it in my notes and noticed it kept trying to use my Internet whenever I wrote anything down. I found out that my stupid phone was copying the work on my yahoo page instead. So I tried to send the work back to my cell phone and deleted the entire chapter by accident. So I had to re-write the whole thing, which I very much dislike. So if the chapter seems sort of rushed and not quite like my last two it was because I hate having to do things over, knowing it can't compare to my previous work.

Also I'd like to thank my very first reviewers Polska and Dreams. It's nice to know someone actually read my work and could enjoy it.

Please leave a review. I'd love to hear opinions on things. And I'd like to know how the characters turned out… I felt like I wrote Brick too OC. 


	11. New Orders

Chapter 3: New Orders

Disclaimer: I don't own PPG or Norse Mythology. Just my ideas.

>_> No wonder people get mad writing disclaimers all the time… it gets kinda annoying after a while.

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'She couldn't have just disappeared? Could she?'

"I can't BELIEVE she had the nerve to leave me standing around in the hallway like that!" Currently in a dark grey room, Brick was pacing the length of a bright red bed, literally fuming.

'Well you weren't exactly being nice to her you know.' Accendo called from the top of the bedpost. 'Besides didn't you notice how distracted she was?'

Brick paused to stare at the the brightly colored bird. "No shit captain obvious. Kinda hard not to notice when someone freezes up like that." he deadpanned.

'You know what I mean.' Accendo squawked back. 'It looked like she was talking to someone.'

"What?"

'I don't know if you've ever noticed but that's the same expression you get when your talking to me from a distance.'

"Riiight. And I'd notice this because I can magically see my own face." Brick shot back sarcastically. "How the fuck do you expect me to know something like that unless I'm standing in front of a mirror?"

'No need to get snippy.' Accendo sneered.

"Oh no! The widdle fire birdies mad at me!" Brick mocked with a childish tone. "I'm sooo scared!"

'Thats it! You've been insulting me all day!' Accendo let out an avian shriek before he set himself aflame and dived off the bedpost towards Brick. "Bring it on feather brains!"

…

"What are you two pinheads doing?"

Brick paused, holding Accendo's wings as the birds talons froze just before meeting his cheek. Both looked up from the floor to see Blossom standing in the doorway as feathers and hair floated down around them. Accendo was the first to recover as he squawked piteously. In the blink of an eye, Brick was on the floor alone, Accendo cradled in Blossom's arms.

"Brick! What is wrong with you!" she scolded. As much as she disliked the large phoenix at times, she could always feel sorry for it. After all the poor bird had to put up with Brick twenty-four seven.

"What's wrong with me? What's wrong with you! You just left us to wander around earlier! If Nix hadn't found us we'd have been lost for hours!" Brick shouted at Blossom as he got off the floor, dusting himself off.

"Something urgent came up." The young girls face was a stony mask as she turned to him. "But that's not important right now. Nix has asked me to bring the two of you to his study, come." with that she was out the door, Accendo now pearched on her shoulder.

'Come on pinhead.'

With a low growl Brick followed the two out the door silently calculating revenge on his supposed familiar. 'You just wait Accendo. I'll get you for this.'

By the time the three reached Nix's study Brick was positively livid. He was mad at Accendo for making him look bad in front of Blossom of all people. But more than that he was mad at Blossom herself for reasons he couldn't quite fathom. It was so different from before. When they were younger they got along well enough, Hel Brick even considered her a friend. But after the incident about four years ago Blossom became nearly emotionless and that had him steaming, literally. He despised her apathetic attitude towards everything, how she just completely ignored him at times. The way she never showed anything on that beautiful face of hers. WAIT! Hold up- did he just think beautiful? 'Bad brain! Bad!' he smacked himself on the head. He quickly turned away then as Blossom gave him another detached look that clearly questioned his sanity.

Ignoring the looks he paused to look around the chaotic room Nix called his study, Brick couldn't help but think of how much it looked like a tornado had struck. There were shelves at every wall. Some housed books while others were cluttered with what he guessed were artifacts, though most of it seemed to be multicolored rocks and chunks of ice. It was obvious that Nix had run out of room for there were stacks of books blanketing the floor space. Though most weren't too high some were so tall they seemed ready to fall at any second as they teetered in the breeze. "Ah, there you are. Would you two mind helping me out?" a hand waved back and forth from beneath a large pile of books at the back of the room, Nubem perched at the top preening his feathers as if it were the most natural thing in the world. "I was trying to get one of my older books and seemed to have cause an avalanche."

Brick stared blankly for a moment trying to decide wether he should be worried or not. He got his answer when Blossom calmly walked over to the mountain of books and slowly began pulling out the larger ones. She piled them on the floor beside her in a more orderly fashion as Brick crouched down to help. "Is this normal?" he whispered trying not to be heard by Nix.

"Normal? More like routine." Blossom stated, not at all regretful if Nix heard her. "Nix, I've told you a million times that you need a bigger room."

"And I've told you a million times that I like this one!" Nix declared. "I've had this room since I first came here all those years ago. I've got memories in here."

"What are you, an old geezer?" Blossom questioned. "Just because you get a new room docent mean you have to give up this one. I'm only saying this because you need more space for all these books. I'm tired of having to dig you out all the time."

Nix popped out of the pile then. Clambering out, he began stacking the books into uneven piles. "This room has sentimental value. I'm not leaving." Blossom didn't argue anymore as Nubem flew over to perch on her shoulder opposite Accendo. Both then took off to land on the now clear table, before Nix could pile more books onto it.

Nubem screeched loudly, ruffling his feathers as he clicked his beak. "Ah right you are. I almost forgot." nearly dropping the pile of books, Nix hurried over to the tables edge and scooped up a small wooden box. "This was delivered by a white crow a short time ago."

Both teens froze as the meaning of Nix's words sunk in. "The Valkyrie's familiars." Brick whispered breaking the silence. A nod from Nix confirmed it. "But we weren't supposed to be contacted until the end of summer."

"Yes. Well it seems something came up and the requirements have been changed." Settling on the edge of a small wooden chair Nix motioned for Blossom and Brick to find seats of their own. Blossom was quick to seat herself on the windowsill leaving Brick the task of cleaning off one of the book cluttered chairs. "Sneaky ass." he muttered just loud enough for her to hear. 'Ignored...again.' Brick huffed aggravated, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Sorry Milady I know that's your usual seat but I need that window closed." Nix said apologetically as he gave Nubem a look before shooing the snowy owl off the tabletop. Brick sat waiting in curiosity as Blossom closed not only the window she sat at but every one in the room before drawing the curtains. During this time Nubem flew about the room collecting candles, from who knows where, depositing them on the table and books nearby. Accendo seemed to get whatever message the others had for he immediately began trailing after Nubem lighting each candle.

"What the heck are all of you doing?" Brick grumbled, clearly impatient.

When the entire study was closed off, Blossom gracefully picked her way over to the door locking it before making her way back. If he couldn't hear her footsteps Brick would have sworn she was flying instead. After all both of them could if they wanted to.

"Sorry about that." Nix apologized again as he opened the box. "The letter we got this time is a bit on the…confidential side." Within the small wooden box was several rolls of parchment beside what looked to be a clear circular rock. "And Milady, it seems the item you requested has finally arrived."

Turning to the red head beside him, Brick was shocked to say the least. He hadn't seen any emotion beside anger on the girls face in years and now here she was, looking like a child who's birthday had come early. Brick couldn't believe what he was seeing, but as fast as he could blink, the fleeting emotion was gone. 'Did I even see that? Must be imagining things.' Nix quickly passed the tiny rock to Blossom, as soon as the stone hit her hand the color changed. She quickly tucked the now pink stone into her clothing before turning her attention back to her tutor. "What's the letters say?"

"Well… simply put you two are now in a competition of sorts." Adopting a lecturing tone and blank face he forged on. "As you both know the nine worlds are in a crisis. Several of them are rebelling against Lord Odin's rule, the biggest threat being Midgard. And to make things worse it seems that someone is behind all this, though there has been no way to identify who this person is. These are for you." he passed two of the rolls to Blossom and Brick. "They explain in detail the extent of matters. Unfortunately Lord Odin now, not only needs new advisors but warriors as well. Thor and the others are no longer enough, he needs more diversity in his army's. As such he has ordered the Valkyrie to select more warriors for him to protect Asgard. But since the Valkyrie can't bring in warriors from any worlds beside Midgard and occasionally Jötunheimr, he has decided for his new advisors, meaning you two, to recruit the rest of them."

"What?" Brick asked stupidly. "You mean we have to find that old buzzards new advisors AND warriors!"

"Not quite. The advisors you recruit must also be able to fight." Nix replied. "And do not speak of the Lord that way!"

"They have to be influential too." Blossom stated ignoring the growl from Brick.

"Correct. The both of you will have to leave as soon as possible to complete this task." Nix stood up then, walking over to a shelf to pull out a long rectangular case. "I have been saving this for nearly a century. Now's probably as good a time as any to put them to use."

Nix placed the box on the table in front of Nubem. Said bird tilted his head to the side before reaching out a taloned foot and inserting his claws into what looked to be a lock. With a disgruntled squawk he jumped back, the box making a loud click before popping open. "I want the two of you to use these. It will help you find the others." he lifted out six rounded gems, each attached to a thin golden chain of it's own. He handed the ruby, emerald, and sapphire to Brick. To Blossom he handed a light pink gem, jade, and aquamarine. Blossom stared at the pink gem in her palm for the longest time. It was obvious to Brick she didn't know what it was either. "Don't worry its not a fake. You'll find out what it is later. Just make sure you don't loose them. Now I've got one other thing for each of you, I believe you'll be familiar with these particular artifacts Milady."

A sharp crack was heard as Nix pushed down on the box shattering the bottom to reveal a compartment. From this he pulled two pairs of near identical hilts none of which had blades. All four were an odd color as the hilts shagreen had obviously deteriorated over time. Each hilt had elaborate guards, the two smaller ones sporting an odd four petaled, double flower design, while the larger ones had a ten armed star shape that flowed back over the hilt like a swirling vortex. Blossom snatched up the two smaller hilts, bringing one to eye level. Her fingers danced over the worn hide tracing intricate patterns into it. "This is the ancient blade of Niflheim." Brick barley heard her voice as she whispered breathily. "The first blades ever forged by my people. How did you get this? I thought it was lost in the cave-in of Crystal Chasm nearly a millennia ago."

"Let's just say this old bag of bones still has a few tricks up his sleeve." he laughed.

"Your not that old." Brick stated "Are yo-oh!" Blossom dug her elbow into Brick's side. He glared at her vehemently, quietly growling as he remembered Nix's weird issue with his age. She had just saved him from another of the tutors long rants but there was no way he was gonna thank her for it.

Nix stared at the teens with a feigned look of confusion before clearing his throat. "I'd like the two of you to take these with you. Milady I believe you can fill the Young Master in on how to use them. I must now prepare for the journey you will be taking. The Valkyrie expect my reply immediately and though it thoroughly aggravates me you must depart in two days time."

"Wait. What about the other letters?" Brick asked gesturing to the remaining rolls of paper in the nearly forgotten box. "Who are those for if only these are for us?" he waved the roll of paper in his hand in a circle.

"They're obviously for the recruits we need to find." Blossom stated as if it were the most obvious answer in the world. Which only irked the boy further. 'Little miss high and mighty. I'm gonna get you back one of these days.'

Nix clapped his hands then drawing the attention of the rooms occupants. "Well we've all got things to do so let's get to it." he ushered the teens and Accendo out of the room then. "I suggest you pack everything you'll be needing, but pack lightly ok. This is gonna be a long trip after all. And Milady I expect you to help the Young Master with you know what." he handed Brick a bundle of cloth as he said this. "It took me a lot of time and effort to get my hands on those so you better take care of them."

With that the teens and phoenix were left standing in the white and blue hallways. "Why does this feel like déjà vu?" Brick muttered quietly. 'Because this is the same thing that just happened this morning.' Accendo murmured. 'AH! Wait up!' the bird took off after Blossom's disappearing form leaving Brick behind. 'Theres NO WAY I'm getting lost again!' he thought as he quickly ran after the two.

•••000•••

Yay! Another chapter! This one docent have nearly as much detail as the first two... I curse myself for my laziness. I really should work harder on these but I'm just such a pathetically lazy excuse.

I know I had Brick a little too reserved in this chapter but it's just cause he's in Blossom's home. As soon as he's away from the people that expect him to act all "Princely" I'll try to make him more outgoing. I just thought it would be sort of cute for him to at least try to be nice to Blossom but I don't intend for him to be that way with anyone else especially those who don't know him.

And sorry to any of you that are waiting for me to update my work. I'm pathetically useless with technology. I can't seem to upload anything from my phone without it being mashed together without spaces. So I have to wait until I can get my hands on a computer with Internet since my old dinosaur finally kicked the bucket. (May he rest in peace! T_T)

Please review and tell me how I did. I read all my reviews after all. I love hearing peoples opinions so I can try to improve. Thank you! ^_^ 


	12. Of Daggers and Swords

Chapter 4: Of Daggers and Swords

Ok I feel like I've been rushing the last two chapters along. So I'm gonna try to slow down a little in this one. I'm just excited to start the mission instead of having them hang around the castle so much. I wanted to get to the more actioney part even though I've never written any sort of action anything. Looking forward to trying though. ^_^

And since I've had the last two chapters more from Bricks perspective I thought I'd go back and give you Blossoms take on things. But I'm warning you now, I don't write Blossom as the uptight nerd everyone seems to take her for. Shes still insanely smart but shes got an bit of an attitude in this. And maybe some denial issues. Now it's time for the ever annoying

Disclaimer: I do not own PPG or figures from Norse Mythology. I do own a cookie though! And I'd share it if I could.

•••000•••

White, white, and oh look, more white. This place was always a bit of a downer to Blossom. Sure it was home but when all you see is white, blue, and the occasional grey you tend to start feeling depressed. She traveled the halls of this castle for so many years but if someone were to ask her how, she'd have absolutely no answer. Blossom had no idea how she could navigate this frozen place. Maybe it was the almost unnoticeable changes in white and blue on the walls. They had all looked the same when she was younger but now she could find distinct differences in shades, though once again she couldn't explain this.

A near burning heat grabbed onto her shoulder then. This didn't stop Blossom though, she knew it was just Accendo whom was desperate not to get lost. The loud clap of Brick's shoes echoed a little behind her as well. It was a wonder how this boy could make so much noise. Nifilheim residents prided themselves on their graceful movements and light feet but him, HA! In the otherwise silent corridors, Brick was moving around with the grace of a bulldozer and sound to match. She could only pray the coming trip wouldn't call for any type of stealth work cause if it did…they were doomed.

"Where are we going?"

Without sparring him a glance, Blossom continued on. "Were going back to your room so I can explain a few things."

"Why my room?" she didn't even have to look at him to know he was trying to strike a nerve.

"Because we both know that if we went to my room it would be more of a hassle for me." starting to get irritated Blossom tried to keep her breathing steady. "Not only would I have to walk you back to your room before returning to mine, I would have to deal with your constant whining about how cold my room is." 'Not to mention I'd have to watch that you don't break my things again.' she added to herself. She stopped to open the door then, waiting for him before she closed it. After the three of them were in the room Blossom locked the door.

"What is up with all this sneaking around!" Brick grumbled. It was obvious that he was even more irritated than he had been when she found him earlier. He had probably been simmering throughout their entire conversation with Nix and was finally gonna blow. "I'm tired of all this hiding crap! The sons of Muspell DON'T HIDE!"

"Calm down before you break something." She never changed her tone. 'Not like he'd listen to me anyway.'

Blossom walked over to him then, she snatched the bundle of cloth Nix had given them before Brick could accidentally burn it like usual. She placed it on his bed before trailing around his room to close the few windows there. No need for prying eyes to see what they had with them. Brick just kept ranting the whole time until he noticed how dark it was. Pausing to look around the room, it was clear that he couldn't see anything in the dark. Even though he and Accendo were about as bright as candles. Accendo was currently busying himself with lighting the chandler hanging in the middle of the room.

"Hey, what are you doing?" he asked after his eyes had finally adjusted only to find Blossom sitting in the middle of his bed opening the bundle of cloth.

"Nix told me to explain how to use them so I will." not looking up, she continued to unravel the many layers. 'How did Nix even find the time to wrap this so many times?' Once open she placed each delicately onto the red blanket. "Well do you want to know what these are or not?" He was quick to seat himself beside her as she knew he would, the boy had always been too curious for his own good.

She was suddenly very uncomfortable with the situation. Being holed up in a dark room sitting on the bed was perfectly fine with her, after all the sun never shone in Nifilheim. On the other hand, being holed up in Brick's dark room on the bed wasn't. Especially when the boy in question had no sense of personal space and was practically breathing down her neck. It didn't help any that his breath was uncomfortably hot on top of that.

She tensed up slightly before grabbing one of the two smaller hilts. "These four hilts are ancient weapons created by both Nifilheim and Muspell. The smaller two are daggers that were made for the first queen of ice. The larger ones are swords that belonged to the first fire king."

"Meaning they belonged to the original rulers of Muspell and Nifilheim." Brick summed up as he grabbed one of the larger hilts. "But how are they supposed to help us if they don't have blades?"

"That's the part I have to explain." Blossom turned around to face him. "They never truly had blades to begin with."

"There's no point to a sword the docent have a blade." Brick tossed the hilt back onto the blanket then which earned him another cold glare from Blossom. "What? It can't be considered a weapon if it's just a handle."

"Wrong." her hands lit up in a soft pink glow as the temperature around her dropped. "The wielder creates the blade."

"What are you talking-" Brick nearly jumped back in shock. The moment Blossoms hand closed around the hilt the energy was absorbed. Flipping her palm upwards for him to see she curled one finger around the hilt before a pulse rippled across the surface. Moments later a trident shaped hot pink blade shot out of the other side of the guard. "How did you-?"

"The blade is created by the wielder." Blossom repeated as she place the dagger into Bricks hand. He was quick to examine it, searching over every inch he could. "It absorbs the energy of the one who uses it and creates a weapon to fit them."

"Awesome." He whispered running a calloused finger lightly over the blade leaving shallow cut. He began to spin it around his fingers in small circles. "It's light as a feather. Even the shagreen's brand new."

"Here." Blossom handed him back the larger hilt, holding out a palm for the dagger.

Brick returned the blade, quickly snatching up the sword hilt before turning towards the bedpost. "Shut up Accendo!" Blossom could only guess that the bird had somehow insulted him again. Though she'd never admit it she was jealous of Brick for having Accendo. Most everyone manages to summon their familiar by their thirteenth year but Blossom was still having trouble with hers. She quickly blinked before looking away when she noticed Accendo looking at her. He seemed to be talking to Brick again as the boy just nodded his head. The bird dropped off of the bedpost then landing on the bed next to Blossom before rubbing against her. She gave in and pet the bird a little.

She stopped when she noticed the look Brick was giving her. It wasn't necessarily mean but she disliked it nonetheless, a such a gentle expression didn't belong on Brick of all people. "Well. Are you going try it or not?" she questioned gesturing to the hilt in his hand.

He quickly advert his gaze to his hands as he grasped the hilt. The already warm room got worse as Brick tried to channel his energy into the weapon. His eyebrows furrowed in concentration, hands flashing with a dull red glow. Accendo being a familiar tried to help with the task. Before long the rooms temperature reached scorching new heights the air around both sparked and crackled with their fiery energy.

"This isn't working!" Brick growled wiping a drop of sweat from his forehead. Accendo squawked in agreement.

"Your trying too hard." Moving to sit next to him, she plucked the hilt from his hands. "Your not supposed to force it to absorb your energy. Just let it flow." her hand glowed with a soft pink once more as ice crystals formed around her fingers.

He snatched the worn artifact back from her grumbling softly. He was now glaring at the hilt as if it had personally offended him somehow. Then again it was Brick after all. He was probably mad that she had made the weapon work so easily while he was having difficulties.

After she lost track of his many unsuccessful attempts, and the room reaching near sauna status, Blossom was officially ticked. Watching him toil in misery was rather funny but she absolutely could NOT stand the rolling waves of heat coming from the boy and his familiar. It was beginning to drive her insane.

Before she realized what she was doing she had already brought the hilt towards her hand and all. This earned a startled look from Brick as he glanced between his captured hand and the irritated Blossom. "I told you already that your trying too hard. If you keep doing that your just wasting energy you dolt."

"Since your so good at it why don't you do it yourself you uppity witch!" He snapped before turning to Accendo again. "One more remark like that and I swear I WILL wring your neck feather brains!"

Blossom closed her eyes taking long deep breaths to calm herself. They'd get nowhere if both kept arguing like they were. "Ok… let's try this again." she held a hand in front of his face palm up releasing a soft stream of energy. "See how I'm only using small portions of energy?" the only response was a deep throated growl. "There's enough to form small ice crystals but nothing bigger right?" another growl. "So what does that tell you?"

Refusing to answer he lit his hands with dark red energy. Without releasing either his hand or the hilt Blossom brought her glowing palm next to his as reference. In moments the red glow began to spark and crackle. When he began releasing too much energy again she lightly squeezed his hand ignoring the slight burning sensation. The light continued to waver between bright and dim shades of red. After a while the hilt began to pulse slowly. The corners of Brick's mouth turned up in excitement, unfortunately his power began to fluctuate as well. Blossom quickly wrapped both hands over his, a steady stream of her own energy flowing out to stabilize his. Moments later a long, thin, blood red blade erupt from the guard, the surface of it dancing like liquid fire.

Brick lit up like a candle then, the entire room flashing to life with his triumphant blaze. He crowed jubilantly as he shot small flames from his palms. The fires literally danced around the room as he nearly ran around in elation. Blossom just watched him as she crossed her arms, tucking her hands away. 'He's such a kid sometimes.' She allowed a small smile to creep onto her lips as she watched the boy and his familiar enjoy their accomplishment.

•••000•••

Well this wasn't quite what I expected to write... I was supposed to write about them getting ready for the trip but I ended up writing a little red moment instead. I wonder if this can be considered fluff? I'm not really sure.

And to my anonymous reviewer Dreams I'd like to say thanks for the support and tips. Unfortunately I'm not sure if this story can be considered romance or not which is the only reason I haven't placed it in that category.

Oh well I still liked it. I hope you do too. Please leave a review. 


	13. My Familiar

Chapter 5: My Familiar

Disclaimer: I do not own PPG or Norse figures. Etc. Etc.

•••000•••

How long Blossom had been in the room with the celebrating pair she couldn't say. One thing she was sure of though was that strangely enough she enjoyed the sight of the happy duo. A sharp stinging sensation forced her back to reality.

"Well it's nice to see you've got it to work. Just make sure no one sees them before we leave the castle." Getting up and walking to the door she unlocked it before slipping out into the hallway.

Brick didn't seem to notice her departure until the door was opened and cold air flooded back into the room. "Hey what about the other two?"

'At least he's got enough sense not to shout out what they are.' Blossom paused turning to face him. "Could you hold onto them for now? I can't really hide them on the way back to my room."

"Ok I guess." reaching up to scratch the back of his head he stared at Blossom for a moment. It looked as if he wanted to say something but quickly changed his mind. "Later Pink." he stepped back into the room closing the door.

'What a relief.' Blossom sighed as she made her way down the halls back to her room. Once there she locked the door. Delicately digging through her closet she brought out a soft velvet box. From the looks of the box anyone would presume it contained some sort of shirt or other clothing materials. Instead it was filled with an assortment of medical supplies. She pulled out one of the small bottles and a few white bandages. Opening the bottle Blossom rubbed some of the thick cream onto her hands hissing quietly as the stinging increased. Her hands were already beginning to blister, the skin a bright feverish pink.

In some part of her mind she knew she shouldn't have done what she did. She should have let him figure out how to work the sword on his own but on some fool-hearted whim she had helped him. And look where that got her, both hands were covered in second degree burns. Even using them to open the door had hurt. Not to mention the damn bottle, gauze, and bandages she had to wrap them in. 'Note to self, get easy to open containers for medical supplies.'

Once both hands were thoroughly coated in salve and wrapped Blossom slipped the box beneath her bed. Walking to the closet she decided to start looking for the things she would need for the trip. She grabbed a large grey bag and began dusting it out, checking for any critters that may have taken up residence since last she used it. Once satisfied she placed it on her bed. Returning to the closet Blossom dug out several different tops and bottoms from the back. Most of them were from her few trips to Muspell and would be a good choice for warmer climates, which she knew they would be traveling. Along with those she packed a few pieces for cooler weather, though she honestly didn't have to since she was immune to the cold. She packed an assortment of items she would need into the bag as well. When she was done the large grey bag was bulging at the top and nearly impossible to close. Blossom decided to remove some of the less important items until she could secure the top. Honestly she really wouldn't need such bulky winter clothing or jackets.

By the time she was done it was already past nightfall and Blossom decided to get ready for bed. Once she finished her shower she sat in the middle of her large pink bed. She had nearly forgotten about the little stone from the Valkyrie's. It had been in her possession for nearly half a day already. All the while it had been feeding off of her icy powers and was now the same hot pink the dagger had been. 'How much longer must I wait for you?' Expecting no response from it she tucked it into her clothing once more. Rolling over to face the window Blossom stared out over her misty home. The soft rumble of thunder put her at ease and before long she was asleep.

When the morning came Blossom woke to the feeling of something hard plucking at her hair. "Few more minutes Nubem." she murmured swiping a hand over her head to shoo the birds beak. When the pestering continued she rolled over pulling the feathery frame against her chest. She drowsily opened her eyes when, instead of cold snowy feathers she grabbed hold of fiery red ones. "Accendo?"

"About time you woke up." Blossom's head whipped around as soon as the deep throated voice reached her ears. There leaning against the back of her door was Brick. It took her a moment to realize why he looked so out of place besides him being in her pink room. Moments later she realized that the bulky clothes he had been wearing when he arrived the day before had been replaced by his usual arab attire. Where she was accustom to long occasionally thick tops and bottoms Brick wore light breezy clothes. Over his shoulders was a dark red sleeveless vest that showed off his admit-ably muscular chest and arms. A cherry red bandana like material wrapped around his waist covering the top of his light red pants which fell loosely to his ankles. His long fiery red hair was pulled back into a low ponytail. She always wondered how he could wear so little without being self-conscious. Then again everyone from Muspell had always been rather full of themselves. His piercing crimson eyes were glaring daggers into her as he pushed off of her door. "What happens to your hands?" the way his voice dripped in accusation told her he already knew the answer.

"No idea what your talking about." Why was she so blatantly lying to him? For some illogical reason she didn't want to say it was his fault.

"Oh really?" nearly growling in sarcasm, Brick made his way over to Blossom's bedside. Before she could move away he grabbed hold of her arm, pulling one of her hands out from under the sheets. "No idea what I'm talking about huh?"

She refused to look at him as he unraveled the many layers. When he caught sight of her feverish skin his grip on her wrist began to tighten with each white strip that fell. Grinding her teeth so she wouldn't cry out or yelp in pain she continued to face the window. Accendo let out a piercing shriek, flapping his wings madly. 'Damn. I forgot he was there.' Blossom knew the bird must have seen her anguish and scolded Brick for his grip immediately loosened. She felt a cold finger tracing over the outline of her palm. 'Brick associated with cold? Now there's a first.'

The bed shifted then, he must have sat down. Turning the smallest of fractions she glanced at him from the corner of her eye. It was obvious that he was irritated but there was another emotion on his face that Blossom didn't like one bit. It was the same look he had worn after the incident. The one that was always hiding just beneath the surface. One that made her blood boil, made her want to freeze him solid just so she could throw him out the window. She had always been a nice person in younger years but once THAT look had clouded the faces of the people surrounding her, she changed. For a while she had become an ill-tempered, resentful little thing. The first year and a half after that occurrence had seen her as the most violent, malicious inhabitant Nifilheim had ever seen. Even the jotunns of Muspell would have cringed in fear of her murderous wrath. It was the one thing that could without a doubt set her off. The one emotion that would turn her into the demonic little entity that even Hel's darkest inhabitants feared. Pity.

A feral snarl erupt from her throat startling the boy beside her as she ripped her hand from his grasp. "Get out of my room." One look into her glowing pink eyes had Accendo darting for cover, Brick on the other hand stayed put.

"I'm just trying to help." Leaning over he reached for her hand once more. "No need to get bitchy."

"I don't need your pity!" Snarling loudly she jumped off the bed landing with and uncharacteristic thump. "Now get the fuck out of my room!"

"Or what?" standing up on the opposite side of the bed, Brick crossed his arms over his chest trying not to look surprised at the sudden vehement display of hostility. "Besides who said it was pity?"

"Just get out of my room." The murderous glint in her eyes darkened as she pointed towards the door, her voice dangerously quiet. "NOW!"

He looked uncertain for a moment as if trying to decide whether he should push his luck and stay or get out while he still had the chance. He seemed to decide on the latter as he stormed out of the room slamming the door behind him. He wasn't afraid of her, not nearly so, but neither did he want to get into a fight so early in the morning especially after finding out he had accidentally hurt her the day before.

Breathing heavily in frustration Blossom yanked the medical box out from under her bed. She hastily ripped at the bandages already on her hands shredding them to bits. Slathering both in more ointment she wrapped them back up. When she was done she tore through her closet carelessly dressing herself in her lightest clothes. Looking into the mirror she realized she was wearing clothes very similar to what Brick had worn. The only difference was that in place of the vest she had an off the shoulder top that stopped just a little below her breast. Snarling loudly she snatched up the small pink stone tucking it into her clothes. Making her way to the window she slipped out rocketing into the thick mist a dark pink trail blazing behind her.

Reaching a tall rock formation she stopped. The mist was nearly nonexistent here as if knowing what the area was used for. The angry heat inside of her had reached unbearable levels boosted by her scorched hands. In some small part of her mind she knew Brick had only been trying to apologize for hurting her but she just couldn't stand the pity. It was always there whether he knew it or not. Even the other occupants of the castle, they all looked at her with that same underlying emotion. Nix was one of the only two who didn't look at her that way. The thought made her growl, hands glowing with energy.

The wind swirled around her speeding up to dangerous levels as she reached towards the thundering clouds. Snow began to fall, darting about in the wind. Within moments the light snowfall became damaging hail, blasting craters into the frozen soil. The pink light in her palms flared to darker shades as she shot out fluctuating blasts of ice. The jagged trails, unlike normal ice, flexed dancing on the wind currents like frozen serpents. Twisting and turning in dizzying displays the streams of ice arched towards the clouds. The heat inside of her burned to new levels the higher the the ice climbed until she felt ready to burst into flames the same way Accendo often did.

A sharp stab like the flaming sword of Muspell pierced her chest burning like acid. It flowed through her body in waves until she was ready to collapse. It felt like a part of her very existence was being torn from her by the roots, burning, searing it's way through her veins. Throughout this her body remained a rigid statue frozen in place even as power continued to flow from her hands. Tremors racked her to the core then as she finally collapsed with a bloodcurdling shriek. It was a few seconds before she realized the sound had not in fact come from her. Glancing up into the stormy clouds, Blossom watched as the tendrils of ice continued to twirl on the winds swirling into a large sphere.

In a blinding flash of pink the ice exploded, millions of shards hurtling in every direction. From the center of the explosion a dark black object fell, in a matter of seconds Blossom was racing to catch it. Her muscles screamed in agony as every step tore into her but she refused to stop. Something inside of her encouraged, no, DEMANDED she catch whatever it was before it hit the ground. Diving forward she plowed into a snowdrift with a flurry of white as she caught the black object.

Once she dug herself out Blossom plopped down crossing her legs the object clutched tightly to her chest. Dusting the accumulated snow off of whatever it was the girl was shocked to find feathers. Once the snow was completely removed Blossom found herself holding a large bird. She had never seen anything like it before. It's sleek feathers were as black as midnight and softer than the finest silk. She assumed it would be warmer, after all it had come from the explosion. But instead of heat she felt cool feathers beneath her palms. A soft twittering sound reached her ears as the birds shifted in her grip. With a soft trill the birds eyes slowly opened revealing rose pink orbs near identical to her own.

Blossom gasped softly, feeling for the pink stone. 'I knew it.' The stone was gone. This beautiful bird in her arms… she couldn't believe her eyes. Was she dreaming? All those years of trying, waiting and finally now, when she least expect it here she was staring back into rose eyes. 'My familiar.'

•••000•••

Ok this chapter like just appeared. I seriously just pulled it out of thin air. I didn't even know what I was writing about. But hey, Blossom got her familiar and the trip should be starting in the next chap. I just gotta magic that one up too since I never actually had an idea for any of my chapters beside the general plot line. He he oops ^_^'

Well please review and tell me how it is. Thanks again. 


	14. Evil Animals

Chapter 6: Evil Animals

Disclaimer: I don't own the PPG or Norse figures.

•••000•••

"Young Master!" Huffing and puffing Nix trot over to Brick's side pausing to catch his breath. "Thought you might need some help."

Brick looked away slightly embarrassed. It had been nearly three hours since he had stormed out of Blossom's room. It was bad enough everything looked exactly the same but in his blind rage Brick had gotten himself hopelessly lost. He had been wandering the uniformed white halls ever since. During this time he had managed to burn off some steam but had long since realized he had no way of knowing how to get back. The halls had been eerily vacant of servants or any sort of living creature for that matter.

"One of the maids caught sight of you a while ago but was afraid to approach you." Fixing his disheveled hair Nix stood straighter. "I figured you would appreciate the assistance, these halls are rather difficult to navigate."

"Yah I guess." Brick murmured scratching the back of his neck. Accendo who was perched on the boys shoulder quickly pecked him on the head. Yelping quietly the teen huffed a bit before crossing his arms and reluctantly thanking Nix for helping him.

"It's not a problem Young Master." Nix replied with a soft smile. "I was on my way to find you and Milady anyway. I'd like to introduce you to the steeds you'll be taking for the trip."

"Steeds?"

"Yes. You don't expect us to make you walk the entire way do you?" Teasing lightly Nix turned back down the hall motioning for Brick to follow. "It's bad enough we can't send bodyguards but to leave you two without transportation? I think not!"

Nix slowed after a time knocking lightly on what Brick assumed was a door. For the life of him it looked just like every other wall he had seen. When he got no response, Nix opened the door just wide enough for Nubem to slip through. A sudden squawk and the white bird was scrambling back out, feathers standing in every direction.

"Sorry Nubem!" came a muffled apology from beyond the door before a loud screech overpowered it.

Brick lightly pushed Nix out of the way wrenching the door open. He was both shocked and amused at the sight before him. Disheveled couldn't even begin to describe the way Blossom's room looked. It was as if a full on storm had passed through. Clothing was strewn across every surface, the three chairs and table from the corner were in splinters, her dresser overturned, and for some reason the entire room was covered in layers of ice and half frozen water. He couldn't believe how bad the room had become in the three hours since he last saw it.

"CLOSE THE DOOR QUICK!" Brick barley had time to react before Nix slammed the door shut and a large black blur crashed into his face. Moments later he was sprawled out on the floor as a heavier weight smashed against his side knocking him off his feet. A flurry of black and red feathers and whatever had attached itself to his face was gone.

"Sorry." Looking down, he was even more surprised to see Blossom draped over him. If her room had been hit by a storm then she must have been standing at the center of a maelstrom. Her hair which was usually brushed to perfection blew wildly around her matted in several places. The clothes she wore could hardly be considered clothing anymore torn as it was. He could tell it had previously looked similar to his own, but now the top was in tatters that looked ready to fall off at any moment. What had been a long pants couldn't even pass for shorts now as it covered almost nothing, looking as if it has been shredded by an angry cat. And for some odd reason she was sopping wet. The sheer amount of creamy white skin on display had the boys face burning red in seconds. Fortunately he didn't have long to dwell on this as Blossom sprang off of him darting away, hot on the trail of the black blur that had attacked him earlier.

'Brick we have to catch it!' glancing around he spotted Accendo trailing after the blur as well.

"What the heck is that thing anyway!" Brick shouted as he jumped in front of the feathery mass. He caught a glimpse of a large bird before his face was covered in a blast of near frozen water.

"Stiria, stop!" Blossom shouted, grabbing at the bird. Before her hands could close around it the bird turned slipping just out of reach.

Stiria as Blossom had referred to it, seemed to be mocking them. The damn bird was flying circles around the teens. It would dive down just close enough to reach and then zip away before their fingers could close around it. With Stiria's attention on Blossom and Accendo, Brick thought he would finally be able to catch the rampant avian. He managed to grab hold of a few tail feathers before it darted away again leaving him to crash into Blossom and Accendo. It was like Stiria was planning everything out and watching the show from her perch on the remains of the bedpost. Digging it's talons into the wood, Stiria began flapping her wings madly conjuring up a blizzard of snow and water. Though Accendo escaped in time the two teens had gotten tangled on the floor and were caught in the blast. Melting himself out of the ice Brick got up again only to slip on the water and ice patches. Though he tried to stop he crashed into the bed anyway. 'What the hell am I doing! I can just fly!' he thought as he stumbled off the mattress spitting out feathers from the pillow.

Blossom, Brick, and Accendo continued to chase after the chaotic animal. Occasionally one slipped or fell. The teens even crashed into eachother a few more times before finally Accendo managed to pin Stiria to the top of a shelf.

"Finally." Sighing in relief, Blossom made her way over to the two birds and plucked Stiria up before wrapping a cloth around the bird. "You caused us a lot of trouble."

"Mind telling me what's going on now?" Brick asked looking everywhere but at the girl.

"Right. Brick, Accendo. I'd like you to meet Stiria." Blossom replied obviously pleased as she pet the black bird. Which was weird considering her usually emotionless demeanor.

"Ok. Now try something we don't already know." he huffed in irritation. The damn bird had humiliated him so many times it was pathetic and worse yet he couldn't just kill it. "Like maybe you could explain how you got the evil thing."

"Stiria is not evil!" Blossom snapped clutching the bird protectively to her. She turned away, absently petting the bird as she mumbled "I just don't know how to get her to listen yet."

'Brick I think it's a familiar.' Accendo stated, head tilted to one side. He fluttered over to get a better look. The second he landed on Blossom's shoulder Stiria hissed at him. The smaller bird clicked her beak irately, fluffing her feathers as she glared at Accendo. 'Yep she's definitely a familiar. Even got the jealous streak new ones have.'

"How'd you summon her?" finally turning to face Blossom, he stared her dead in the eye. "Might explain her… reluctance." He flicked his gaze over Stiria taking in every detail. He stopped abruptly when he saw her eyes. They were the same color as Blossom's, maybe a shade off.

"Well… I'm not exactly sure." She chuckled nervously. "She kinda just appeared when I was blowing off some steam."

"Your an idiot, you know that?" Brick asked in a very monotoned voice. "You not supposed to summon a familiar with that state of mind!"

"Hey. How was I supposed to know she'd go all psycho?"

"Maybe if you'd ask!"

'People PLEASE!' Accendo squawked over the noise of the two redheads. 'Must we be fighting now? We still have somewhere to go.'

'Oh yah… I forgot about that.' Brick thought as he glanced at the door. "Nix wanted us for something."

"What are we standing around here for?" Blossom walked over to the door pausing before she grabbed the handle. "Let's get going then."

"Ugh, Pink." Stepping forward Brick placed a hand carefully in Blossoms shoulder. "Don't you think you should change first." his eyes glance nervously down over her not even bothering to hide his flaming red cheeks. What was left of her clothes literally looked like it'd fall off at any moment.

"Oh. Would you look at that." She glanced down looking as if she had only just noticed how torn her clothes were. "You owe me new clothes." she said as she lifted Stiria to eye level. The black bird squawked loudly in reply.

He had to admit there was something different about Blossom. He wasn't sure what Stiria had done but he liked the change. She seemed a lot less frigid than when he saw her a few hours ago. 'Ok… maybe not so much.' he quickly turned around as Blossom carelessly moved across the room, her bright pink underwear very nearly on display. 'Please don't let her be like this on the trip.'

'I think Stiria destroyed her sense of self preservation' Accendo landed on the boys shoulder still watching the girl as she flitted across the room. 'Aaee! Don't look.' Accendo wrapped his wings around Brick's eyes before burrowing his face into the boys red hair.

"Well are we going or not?" pulling red feathers from his face Brick saw Blossom standing in the doorway already changed into her usual attire. "I'm not standing here for my health."

"What the heck are those things?" Brick was now standing in front of a tall reptilian creature. It looked like a raptor with two horns on it's head and what seemed to be a feathery fan on it's tail. The creature stood a good five feet even as it crouched down to look at him. It had the fangs of a sabertooth that reached below it's jawline and claws like butcher knives. It was covered head to toe in jet black scales that gleamed in the light. Further back in the stall was another reptile that looked near identical except that it was covered in white flecks. Both had tail feathers of the same navy blue and snake like eyes. But here was where they really stood apart. While the pure black one had orange eyes the one with white flecks had blue.

"These are Erie Raptors." Nix said placing a hand on Bricks shoulder before reaching out to pet one of the reptiles. "The one your looking at is a female her name is Iento. The one with the white flecks and blue eyes over there is called Noctis." leaning closer Nix whispered "I'd stay away from him if I were you. He's got a bit of a problem and tends to bite. Learned that the hard way. Wouldn't want THOSE teeth in your back side."

While they were talking Blossom had slipped into the padded stall and was making her way over to Noctis. When Brick caught sight of her he nearly jumped out of his skin for the large reptile was running at her full speed. Just before a warning left his throat Noctis skidded to a stop and began rubbing himself against the girl. The lizard was acting like an overgrown house cat as it literally purred rolling around at her feet, begging for attention. Bewildered, Brick turned to Nix with a confused look. "I thought you said he was dangerous. Docent look like he'd hurt a fly."

"Only in the presence of females." Nix deadpanned looking like he'd very much like to hit the lizard right then and there. "Milady used to coddle him before. And now the stupid things got it in his mind that she belongs to him."

Brick made a mental note on Nix's attitude towards the creature. If Nix, who loved animals didn't like this one, Brick was probably gonna have a hard time with it. Since these things were coming with them he'd definitely be picking Iento for himself.

Blossom was making her way back out as he contemplated. She opened the door wide allowing Noctis, whom had practically attached himself to her, out of the stall. Accendo screeched loudly as the reptile hissed at them on it's way past. 'Yah I'm definitely picking Iento.'

Trailing far down the stable halls Blossom stopped after a time, she placed Stiria on the scaly back of Noctis before opening a cabinet. She removed two large bags which she placed on the ground. Next she grabbed a couple of brushes and handed them to Noctis, the scaly lizard grasping both handles in it's claws. In each bag she stuffed three different types of blankets and several medium sized pouches before closing them. Taking both brushes back form the large reptile she placed Stiria onto her shoulder and made her way back. 'Why would she leave the bags behind?' just as the thought passed his mind it was answered. Noctis had bent down and grasped both thick straps of the bags. With no effort the lizard carried both as he followed Blossom.

"Ah. That's a very good idea Milady." Nix said as she handed Brick one of the brushes. "I'd be good for getting aquatinted."

"I'm assuming you've already chosen Iento?" Blossom asked as she opened the stall door. "She likes being brushed."

Nodding an affirmative, Brick slid into the stall making sure not to get too close to the angry blue eyed lizard as it hissed beside Blossom. He really wasn't liking that one. Iento on the other hand seemed to be much more accepting. She leaned down to sniff at him a bit before butting her head against his chest. Accendo took a liking to her instantly as he landed on one of her horns before running his talons over her scaly head.

"Just run the brush over her hide." Nix instructed from outside. He was currently playing keep away with Noctis as the demon creature refused to hand over the bags in it's possession. "They like it when you scratch their head like Accendo's doing so don't worry."

"If she docent like something she'll tell you." Blossom said appearing beside him as she scratched Iento's chest scales. "Isn't that right girl."

The Erie Raptor crooned loudly absolutely loving the attention she was getting. And when Brick ran the wiry brush over her hide she practically collapsed in bliss as her claws rubbed the ground much the same way a cat would. Wave after wave of colors and emotions suddenly flooded his mind as Iento purred loudly. 'What was that?' he thought as he abruptly stopped. Iento gave him a pleading look as she rubbed her snout against his hands. Giving in he began brushing her again. When the odd waves returned, Brick realized they were coming from Iento herself.

"Ah I almost forgot." turning to look at Nix the teen almost burst into laughter. The tutor was tugging desperately at one of the large bags while Noctis simply held the other end looking bored out of his mind. "Erie Raptors are a lot like familiars. They can communicate but only with emotions. A lot of times they associate colors with those emo-Ack!" Brick snorted trying desperately not to laugh as Noctis released the bag. The lizard seemed to be laughing as its sides heaved and it made an odd stuttering growl while it's mouth curved up. Nix pushed off the floor and dusted himself off before attempting to retrieve the other bag.

"Maybe you should help him." Brick snorted, chuckling quietly as he turned to Blossom.

She didn't even look at him as she continued scratching Iento. "This is his only exercise." the way her voice strained and mouth twitched told him she was trying to keep a straight face. Her sides shook gently and he realized, she was LAUGHING. He hadn't even seen he smile since they were thirteen. There was no way he was gonna this pass up. Placing the brush down beside him, he carefully reached towards the redhead. When she didn't seem to notice he inched closer. He then ran his fingers gently over her side, the results came immediately as she promptly fell over in a fit of laughter.

'She always was a bit sensitive there.' Accendo called walking over as he and Iento stared at the laughing girl. Stiria who had been perched on Blossoms shoulder was now beside him. She began bobbing her head up and down chirping loudly as she dusted her tail over Blossom.

Even without his familiars help Brick got Stiria's message. He dusted his fingers over the girls side grinning like an idiot as she howled in laughter. Both birds had joined in and even Iento lent a feather tipped tail. Sure she'd probably yell about it later but right now it was freaking hilarious to him. He secretly liked her laugh though he'd never admit it, not even to Accendo.

"YEOWCH!" The boy yowled in pain as something clamped down on his backside. Turning to look he came face to snout with none other then Noctis. The evil thing had a mouthful of his pants hanging from it's teeth. He glared at the demon lizard already thinking of ways he could kill it when a cold hand fell onto his shoulder.

"Leave- leave him- alone ok." Blossom wheezed out still trying not to laugh as she leaned heavily against his side. Her cheeks were a bright red color as she wiped tears of mirth from her eyes.

"Why? He's the one that bit me!"

"I wasn't talking to you." still struggling to catch her breath Blossom reached out grabbing the fabric from Noctis's teeth. Noctis gave in without a fight as he let go moving away like a scolded puppy, tail and head drooped slightly. "Oh quit being so dramatic." she turned to Stiria then holding her arm out for the bird to climb. With a squawk the bird turned away. "Fine then."

She got up and walked off as Accendo flew over to land on her shoulder glancing back as if to make sure Stiria was watching him. Which she was. He knew what was going on. Accendo was trying to make Stiria jealous of him and it was obviously working. Shaking his head, Brick reached over just like Blossom had. This time Stiria took the invitation and climbed to his shoulder making sure to scratch him on the way up. 'WHAT IS WITH THESE HATEFUL ANIMALS!' Brick mentally shouted as he tried to hold his arm still. It was bad enough he had to deal with Accendo's attitude but now he had Stiria and Noctis to deal with as well. The latter of which he was sure was glaring at him as he left.

As he stepped out of the stall a soft blue color passed through his mind before a scaly nose brushed his arm. He jumped back, momentarily thinking it was Noctis again. Thankfully it was Iento. She was holding onto the brush he had been using and forgotten on the ground. "Thanks." he whispered as she dropped it into his hand. 'Not all of you are so bad.' her response was another lighter wave of blue.

The rest of the day found the teens and tutor packing more supplies for the journey. And when that was done they retreat to the study. Nix drilled them with hundreds of different maps and star charts that they had long since studied. He even pulled out several cultural books that odd enough looked both familiar and foreign at the same time. Once this was done Nix sent them off to bed as if they were still children saying they needed plenty of sleep.

"Wake up! Come on!" Brick felt like he was getting motion sickness as he was shaken back and forth. A pair of soft cold hands were pressed against his shoulder before the warm blanket was torn from his grasp. "Wake up already!"

Brick just rolled over before pulling the pillow over his head. He didn't want to wake up yet. His internal clock stated it was still very early and he hated mornings. Unfortunately whoever was trying to wake him was very persistent, either that or they had a death wish. The icy hands were back again, this time they were pressed against his back. He could feel himself being shaken again but he refused to get up. The pillow was torn from his grasp as well. Growling in irritation he wrapped his arms over his head instead. He was distinctly aware of a voice in his ear coaxing him awake but he just didn't want to move.

The hands were back again and so was the voice. It had a nice ring to it and reminded him of the first time he had come to Nifilheim. Blossom had taken him and Vertex to the Crystal Caverns, there they heard what Vertex called "The most Beautiful song in Existence" as the wind whistled through the caverns knocking the crystals together in an orchestra of sound. Brick had returned that night to listen to the caves song once more but the wind had been still. He chanced upon someones song instead as the eerily enchanting voice carried through the caverns. That song was even better in his opinion.

Reluctantly, Brick rolled over as the hands pushed against him. Whoever it was must have fallen over then because something cold and heavy landed on his bare chest. He shot up with a strangled gasp.

"About time you got up." he looked down to find Blossom lying sideways over his lap arms still out looking like she was pushing against something.

"Do you secretly enjoy this or something?" he teased as she picked herself up. "I mean this IS the second time you've thrown yourself at me in the past twenty-four hours."

She didn't answer, just glared at him icily before pushing him over the edge of his bed. Her head popped over the corner then as she looked down at him. "Don't get full of yourself."

He grumpily picked himself off the floor as he made his way to the closet to change. He could have sworn he saw Blossom staring at him from the corner of his eye but when he turned to look she was facing the opposite direction. He glanced at Accendo but the bird was fluttering around like an idiot trying to get Stiria's attention. Rolling his eyes he continued his routine.

Once he was done Blossom led him to the kitchen where they finished off a quick breakfast. No sense using the dining hall and making more work for the maids as Blossom stated. Brick honestly couldn't have cared.

The four trekked back to the rooms to pick up any loose items before meeting up with Nix at the stables. There they found a cleanly saddled Iento with four evenly weighted bags on her back. Noctis on the other hand only had a bridle on and was prancing circles around Nix who was still trying to saddle the creature. As soon as Blossom came into sight the lizard took off nearly jumping on her. The demon turned to putty in her hands holding perfectly still as she slipped on his harness and saddle. Once everything was secure Noctis lay on the ground awaiting further instructions.

"I envy you sometimes." Nix said glaring at Noctis before smiling serenely at Blossom. "Now you both know what to do right?"

"Yes we head towards Yggdrasil's root and use it to go to Svartálfahemir." Blossom obediently recited.

"Once there we find someone to recruit then head up to Jötunheimr. Completely bypassing Midgard." Brick huffed. It was annoying they had gone over this so many times he could recite the whole thing by heart.

"After Jötunheimr we find recruits from Vanaheimr and Alfheim." She continued.

"And if you run into any sort of trouble or need help?" Nix questioned.

"We can summon Nubem to bring assistance." both teens finished. "Can we go now?" Brick asked trying not to sound irritated. He wasn't exactly looking forward to the blizzard they'd have to pass through.

Nix pulled Blossom off to the side then whispering something to her. The redhead slapped her thighs as she answered him. He heard a soft clink as she did so. 'Must be the daggers.' he had the swords with him as well but they were both wrapped away in a bag with his personal belongings.

Once they were done talking the teens both mounted their steeds. "You sure you know how to handle her?" Blossom asked as she glanced at Brick who was having a bit of trouble with Iento.

"Yah. I got her." he gently tugged at the reigns trying to get Iento to stand back up. She didn't seem to get what he wanted her to do. He focused on the grey coloration she was sending him before picturing her standing up. She seemed to understand this time as she got up and jogged over to Noctis. The small group slowly made their way to the stable doors. They finally reached them just as Brick felt ready to pull at his hair.

With a heavy scraping sound the doors swung open the mist flooding in. The cool breeze was a welcome addition to the previously stifling air. The two raptors stepped out into the ghostly white mist. Pausing for a moment Blossom looked back one last time at her icy castle. With a final wave to Nix they turned into the blinding white world and were swallowed whole.

•••000•••

Ok this chapter was longer than I intended it to be. But whatever I think it was ok. I tried to make it a little funny but I don't know if that passed as funny or just awkward.

Well on a different note I finally decided to place my story into the Romance category as well! I intend to write more but I don't know how that'll turn out. I'm not too confident on my fluff writing. I try to make things cute but they always seem to border on…other things. ^_^' I blame it on the teenage mind! DAMN HORMONES!

Now enough of my ranting. Please leave a review and tell me how I did. Any ideas you may have for the story are welcome too. I like hearing opinions and trying to see things from other peoples point of view. Thank you! 


	15. Ratatoskr

Chapter 7: Ratatoskr

Disclaimer: I STILL DON'T OWN ANYTHING!

My apologies if this chapter seems a bit nutty. I was hanging out with my best friend before I wrote this. And we tend to get insane.

Another thing, after rereading my last chapter I realized that I forgot to mention that Eire Raptors have long necks. They have the body of a normal raptor but they have a more snake like head with protruding fangs and straight dragon-like horns on the back on either side. They also have extraordinarily long tails to balance them out and at the end of the tail is a series of feathers that spread out in a fan sort of shape similar to a birds tail. Just wanted to make that clear now on to the story!

•••000•••

"Are we there yet?"

"For the two-thousandth-five-hundredth-fifty-SIXTH time! NO WE ARE NOT THERE YET!"

"Well maybe we'd be closer if you stopped conjuring up blizzards!"

"Gee I wonder WHY THERE'S A BLIZZARD!"

"Maybe you just don't know how to lighten up!"

"Aaaahhhh! Forget this! CURRERE!" Blossom screamed and Noctis immediately took off. She wanted to pull her hair out by the roots! If she had to listen to his whining for another hour she'd kill him! Screw the mission! Screw it, Lord Odin himself could show up and she'd still throttle the boy! She didn't care what method they used to protect him she would find a way past it and strangle him until he turned PURPLE! Or blue, which ever came last.

It had been less than half a day since they had left the castle and already the two teenagers were getting under the others skin. Blossom had gone back to her usual silent behavior and remained so for most of the morning. Brick on the other hand was talking non-stop, well, mostly grumbling. He had remained quiet for as long as they had been within the barrier. But as soon as they got out he was going a mile a minute. He was uncomfortable with the weather and was getting cold, even under three layers of clothes and boy did he let her know. Hence, he had taken up childishly bugging her to get his mind off said cold.

Speeding on ahead, Noctis plowed through the thin layers of snow that had managed to accumulate. The land was mostly barren except for the odd rock or two. The wind howled like every other day but it seemed a lot lighter. The cool air made Blossom feel so much better. It helped to calm her flaring temper and as long as she didn't listen to him she'd be fine. That is until he zipped past her on Iento yelling like an idiot for the lizard to slow down.

"Moron." she mumbled. "Noctis, ocius!" The Erie Raptor roared loudly and took off as he was told, running faster until he caught up to the runaway duo. Side by side with the idiot boy and Iento, she leaned over hooking her foot around the saddle horn. Using it for balance, she reached out and snatched Iento's reigns from Brick's hand shouting "MODERO!" Both reptiles slowed down coming to an easy jog.

"What was that about?" Blossom asked in clipped tones. "I thought you said you could handle her."

"Well she's not exactly understanding me." he muttered defensively.

"And how may I ask are you talking to her?" She asked still holding both reigns.

"I was sorta sending her pictures of what I wanted her to do." at least he had the decency to be embarrassed. "You know, since she won't listen to verbal commands."

Blossom stared at Brick for the longest time thinking of just how stupid he could be. When he began to fidget uncomfortably she finally spoke. "They listen to verbal commands ONLY! That's why you cant get her to do anything right."

"But she docent listen when I talk to her!" Brick shouted defensively. " I tell her to walk she runs, I tell her slow down she runs, I tell her to stop SHE STILL RUNS!"

She just stared silently as he ranted for a few minutes about how Iento wouldn't listen. When finally, she snapped "Shut UP!" he gave her a wide eyed look for a second before growling and trying to snatch the reigns back. "You have to use the right commands! You don't just go around shouting at her! If you want her to walk tell her 'ambula'." as the words left her mouth both Erie Raptors came to a walk. "You want her to slow down tell her 'modero'." They moved even slower. "Want her to stop say 'claudus'." The raptors came to an immediate halt.

Glancing at Iento, Brick looked a little confused as he processed the new information. "Alright I got it." he reached a hand out, holding his palm up to indicate that he wanted the reigns back. "Can we go now? It's not getting any warmer."

Blossom flicked her gaze between his upturned hand and those blood red eyes. 'They have a nice shine to them...wait WHAT?' an evil smirk crossed her face then. Releasing Noctis's reigns she handed Brick Iento's. The ornery lizard tossed his head flipping the straps before snapping them up with his teeth. As soon as he did so Blossom grabbed hold of Brick's outstretched hand. "Laxat."

Both raptors started off at a brief trot. "You can handle her huh? Let's see about that. Currere!" in a flurry of white powder the creatures took off dashing through the snow with ease. Brick seemed to get what she was trying to do as he gripped back pulling her, and Noctis, closer. He wasn't giving in so easily, he'd hold on as long as he had to. "Ocius!" Both raptors sped up going faster and faster until the wind whipped around them, driving once harmless snowflakes into their skin like scalding irons. They were moving fast enough that any who saw them would only distinguish black and red blurs before they disappeared into the distance. The lizards raced on blitzing over the snow, swerving at tight angles around boulders so close a hair could scarcely fit. It was like the hounds of hell were at their heels.

Neither teen let go, both waiting for the other to give in first. They reached a stale mate. Neither was willing to break away first. The Erie Raptors continued on at the break neck pace with ease, twisting and turning through the snow with sure steps. It didn't matter if they got no instructions from the redheaded riders, they both knew where to go having traveled there hundreds of times. Black taloned feet tore through the ice gouging trenches into the glassy sheets. A large gap was coming up and they knew they would have to jump it. No going around this one. With a mighty leap they careened over smashing back to earth on the other side without missing a beat.

Before they knew it the party had entered the rocky gorge that marked the area around Yggdrasil's root. They should have reached their destination by morning at the earliest, but the pace that was set brought them in the later part of the day. The raptors slowed down coming to a complete halt as they reached the base of the enormous root. The redheads on their backs continued to glare at one another for a while. Finally the familiars got fed up with the childish displays. Accendo whom had spent the trip curled up in a bag of clothes dug his way out. Stiria on the other had spent the trip on the back of Blossom's saddle. At almost the same time Stiria bit Blossom, Accendo clawed Brick. Both teens yelped, Brick shot Accendo a dirty look while Blossom swatted at Stiria.

'How long ya gonna keep holdin his hand hmm?' Stiria questioned smugly as she dogged. Though no one else would be able to tell the difference Stiria knew her partner was blushing.

"Shut up Stiria." Blossom hissed at her familiar as she snatched her hand from Brick's grasp. For a second she could have sworn he looked a bit sad but she brushed it off when he began glaring again. "Well were here."

"Yggdrasil's root." Brick muttered, voice horas and dry. "You think Nidhogg's around?"

"No not today." Blossom muttered. She would have loved to see the dragon before she left. He was a good friend of hers but Nidhogg wouldn't be here right now. "Its the first day of the month and he would have traveled to the lake today."

"Then what the heck is that?" Brick asked in hushed tones pointing higher up on the root. "Somethings moving."

Searching the length of the wood Blossoms eyes fell upon something brown and furry. Noctis sensed the change in mood and quickly crouched down. Blossom lept off the lizards back landing silently a few steps away. Like a ghost she sprint up the edge bobbing and weaving over the rough bark. Sliding her hands beneath the hem of her clothes she grasped the hilt of her daggers. When she was close enough to the brown furry mass she pounced.

"I DIDN'T DO IT! DON'T EAT ME PLEASE!"

Blossom stared down confused at the near human figure beneath her. She had pinned it down and was holding both daggers to it's throat. Looking over the creature she couldn't help but ask "What are you?" the brown fur Brick had seen was a large furry tail that was far longer than it's owners height. Or it could have just been the fact that what ever it was, was curled up. When it heard her voice the small creature straightened out a bit. It looked like a tiny boy. He was wearing bright green clothes the like of which Blossom had never seen before. Where there should have been feet furry paws stretched out. Claw tipped fuzzy hands were wrapped over the top of his head covering a pair of long rabbit like ears.

"Mmm-my nn-names Ra- Rrrru Ratatoskr." he stuttered out looking at Blossom fearfully with the biggest most watery jade green eyes she had ever seen. Both his cheeks had a pair of whiskers and were flushed a cute pink shade. "Ppplease don't hhhurt mmu-mmu-me."

Blossom couldn't help but feel bad. He looked like a tiny animal that needed protection. He was just so cute! Part of her was begging to drop the daggers, hug the little guy and tell him it's ok. She wanted to pet him like a cat and tuck him under her chin. But the more logical side told her not to trust someone she'd hardly met.

"Well, Ratatoskr. What are you doing here?" Not taking her eyes off of the brown haired boy she listened to Brick's authoritative voice trying not to shiver at the tingle it sent down her spine. He never used this one on her before. It was nearly colder than her own when she was mad. "I've never seen you around before."

"Pppp-please I-I-I'm just a aaauh message carrier!" Ratatoskr whimpered tears spilling over as he shook violently. Her super hearing allowed her to hear his racing heart. His breath came in short uneven gasps and he looked like he was having a heart attack.

The guilt was too much. Blossom removed the blades from his neck and slipped one away. Standing up off of him she reached out a hand to help him up. He just stared at the offered hand as if it were a poisonous snake about to strike. With an irate growl Brick snatched him up by the collar jerking him to his feet. The small boy squeaked pathetically as he cowered in the teens grip.

"Brick!" She scolded. "Don't be so rough with him."

"Says the girl who was just holding blades to his throat." Brick grumbled not taking his eyes off the boy. He complied anyway as he lowered Ratatoskr to the ground.

"Ratatoskr, I'm for scaring you." Blossom apologized after finally coaxing Brick to release the kid.

"I-I-it's ooo-ok. I-I-I'm used tttt-to it bbb-by now." Ratatoskr replied still cowering slightly. "Ww-when you wwwork ff- for Nidhogg and tt-the nameless eagle, yyyou get used tt-to tt-threattts."

"Why are you so jumpy?" Brick snapped. She could tell he was getting irritated by Ratatoskr's stuttering.

"Im sorry!" Ratatoskr ducked down covering his head. "I hh-have rr-really bb-bad anxiety ppp-problems!"

"You said you work for Nidhogg?" Blossom continued in a softer voice, trying to calm the small boy. She shot Brick a stern look before sliding away her other dagger and placing a hand on Ratatoskr's shoulder ignoring his flinch. "That means you carry messages for them?"

"Yah I just carry messages." he whispered. "I'm sorry."

"There's nothing for you to be sorry for ok." Blossom reassured. "I'm the one that needs to be sorry. I didn't look before I leaped and I scared you pretty bad."

"It's ok. And you can call me Rata if you want. Ratatoskr's actually my family name." wide green eyes met pink as gave her a look that made her insides melt. "Bbb-but you ddd-don't have tt-to if you dd-don't want."

"Come on! We got work to do." Brick huffed in annoyance as he grabbed Blossom by the arm dragging her away. "Later Rat! Tell Nidhogg we said hi and don't forget!"

Rata flinched at the venom in Bricks voice but quickly agreed. The small boy ran off scampering over the tree root on all fours before Blossom could stop him.

"Brick. What'd you do that for?" she grumbled rounding on the teen. "You scared the poor little guy even more."

Refusing to answer he grabbed hold of Iento's reigns and walked off deeper into the gorge.

'I think somebody's jealous.' Stiria sang out from her perch on Noctis.

Blossom ignored her as she followed after Bricks retreating form.

•••000•••

Awww! I hope I made Rata sound cute enough. He's technically a squirrel but I thought he'd be cuter with big floppy ears. He's based on the Norse figure Ratatoskr who is well carries messages between Nidhogg the serpent at Yggdrasil's root and the nameless eagle who's perched at the top.

Hope ya like this chapter. I tried to make it a little on the actionie side with the Erie Raptors little derby moment. I also worked in a small Red moment, ya know, If ya squint really hard and tilt your head to the side.

And I almost for got. There's a reason I haven't really brought up Brick and Blossoms past. I'll go into detail on it later since it has a role in the red relationship I'm trying to work out. But if you really have to know, the general idea is explained in the Bio about Vertex dying and them changing their personalities.

Well anyway. Please leave a review. Thank you! 


	16. Loki

Chapter 8: Loki

Disclaimer: No own natin! Haha not even pidgin.

If this chapter seems random to you don't worry cause it is. I pulled it out of the air again. IM A MAGICIAN! haha I wish. ^_^

•••000•••

Crunch

Blossom shot up with a start glancing blearily around. Since it had nearly been nightfall when they finally reached Yggdrasil's root, Blossom and Brick had agreed to stop for the night and continue on at dawn. At Brick's insistence they had set up camp in a niche between one of the many large roots.

Straining her eyes to adjust in the almost pitch black night, Blossom scanned the area around her. The two Erie Raptors had curled up against the wooden walls to either side of her. They were pretty close, maybe three or four feet away and she could tell both were sound asleep. Stiria was perched on a piece of bark a few feet above, head tucked under her wing. Accendo was curled up into Iento's side trying to get warmer. And Brick, well Brick SHOULD be a few feet away from her lying amongst the saddle and bags where he was the night before. Rolling over she immediately jumped up grabbing for the daggers at her thighs. She relaxed when she caught sight of long red hair. 'I was wondering why it got so warm.' At some point during the night he had curled up under several of the blankets they had packed an somehow ended up pressed against her back. Though why he would do that was beyond her, if anything she would make him colder. Shaking her head she tried to focus on the area around her. Blossom was sure she had heard a noise and if everyone else was asleep then something had to be nearby.

Some time later she settled down again, Blossom decided she must have just imagined it. There was no thunder in this part of Nifilheim so the night was as quiet as it gets. Even without her powers she could still have heard the boy next to her snoring quietly. As a spur of the moment kind thing she decided that as long as he was asleep she didn't mind being a little soft. Propping herself up on her elbows she looked at his face, eyes trailing over every detail. It was almost scary how much he looked like Vertex. They had the same eyebrows and nose, even the same facial shape. It made her heart clench with guilt. Brick hated being compared to his brother. According to him no one saw who HE was because they were always too busy comparing the two. 'Not anymore.' a small voice in the back of her head whispered. 'Yah… not anymore.' she agreed.

She didn't care how much alike everyone thought they were she could always see the difference. But every time she thought about them she'd feel guilty all over again. It just kept eating away at her like a virus and it only made her feel worse that Brick didnt blame her for his brothers death like she thought he would. 'Well maybe not openly.' They had been pretty good friends until that day. Afterwards he seemed to have gotten pretty grumpy whenever she was around. She'd NEVER admit it aloud but…she only ACTED like she didn't care.

He made an odd noise then as his eyebrows furrowed. It looked like he was having a nightmare. He tossed and turned a little before moving closer to her. She glanced around to make sure none of the group had woken up. She'd never be able to live it down if Accendo or Stiria caught her being soft. When she was sure they were all still asleep she tuned back. She gently pushed back the hair that had fallen into his face before leaning closer to brush her lips against his forehead. He surprised her then as the corners of his mouth twitched up.

"I saw that."

Blossom was on her feet in seconds both daggers and eyes glowing bright pink. She vigorously racked the area over trying to find where the voice had come from. She turned up empty once more but she wasn't giving up. The sudden light seemed to have woken some of the others as Accendo and Noctis both got up. Accendo looked at her as if she were an annoying bug that was disturbing his sleep. Noctis picked up on her distress though and stood up to look around as well. Sniffing the air he looked back at her as he sent a few confused grey colors. He didn't find anything either, but there was no mistaking the voice she had heard this time.

By this time she had woken Brick up as well. He yawned rubbing his eyes sleepily. He looked like he was about to ask her something but stopped when he saw her. As fast as she had, he was on his feet both red swords in hand. He turned his back on her as he too looked around.

"Well your no fun." Blossom froze muscles constricted as a deep voice and hot breath ghosted over her ear. There was a tall figure pressed up against her and she could feel large calloused fingers trailing over the back of her hands. "Surprised?"

She glanced over her shoulder just in time to see a blur of black before it was replaced with the whistling edge of Brick's blood red sword. He spun around facing away from her as he backed up. Before she could say anything she was very nearly squished between the tree and Bricks back as he crouched down swords blazing.

"Bit skittish aren't we?" peeking around the redhead before her Blossom caught sight of a tall man dressed entirely in black. He was leaning against the tree root as if he didn't have a care in the world as he twirled something around his fingers. It took Blossom a second before she realized that the items dancing around his hands were in fact her daggers. 'HOW DID HE GET THOSE!'

"Who are you and what do you want!" Brick growled, a threatening edge to his voice.

"Calm down. If I were here to kill you, you'd already be dead." The stranger stated in a mocking voice. With a flick of his wrist the pink weapons were buried to the hilt at Bricks feet. "Stop worrying so much. I don't bite… too hard." the tall man flashed a set of pearly with teeth at them in a devilish grin winking at Blossom before plopping down into the snow. He leaned back against the tree as he crossed one leg over the other completely at ease. "Pull up a chair. Er. You get the idea."

"You still didn't answer my question!" Brick continued to growl at the man never moving from his position in front of Blossom. "I DON'T like repeating myself!"

"Well somebody's got a stick up his ass." the man stated bluntly. With a snarl Brick charged at him swinging his swords only to have them shatter an empty patch of ice.

"I'd ask you how you deal with him but you seem pretty cold yourself." he had appeared in front of Blossom and was so close his nose brushed against hers. "You know, except for earlier." he whispered the last part as he leaned back a little looking her up and down. He gave her another wink just as her hands shot out to punch him. He disappeared again this time the blur was distorted by streaks from both red blades and a pink fist. "Gee you lot really need to learn how to take it easy."

"STOP JUMPING AROUND!" Brick shouted trailing after the man in black. His two swords whistled through the air each swing leaving a trail of red. It almost looked like he was dancing as each stroke of the blood red blade melded into the next in intricate patterns.

The man stayed one step ahead of him though and continued to dodge like it were child's-play. "Take a chill pill why don't you!" the next thing she knew Blossom was on the ground leaning against Yggdrasil's root, Brick sprawled out on top of her. His swords clattered to the ground beside them as his back slouched against her chest, head rolling back onto her shoulder.

"Brick!" she wrapped her arms around him protectively holding her daggers at the ready. Brick sank deeper into her arms, he was out like a light and by the looks of things he wouldn't be waking up anytime soon. "Stay back!"

The Erie Raptors appeared then as Iento hissed and Noctis roared at the stranger, both blocking the teenagers from his view.

"Are all of you this uptight?" the man groaned. With a sharp screech Stiria swooped down fluttering in front of his face for a moment before landing on the his shoulder. She began nuzzling him as her tail swishes back and forth. "Well at least one of you is nice." he reached up to scratch Stiria on the neck.

"Stiria what are you doing?"

'Like he said, take a chill pill girl. He ain't gonna hurt us.' Stiria hummed. 'Ya know as long as ya don't piss him off again.'

Blossom relaxed a bit then. 'If he could get Stiria's approval then he can't be too bad.' she didn't let her guard down completely though. On command Iento and Noctis backed down but positioned themselves on either side of her. Though she was no longer tense the teen refused to release her grip on either of her daggers or Brick. She watched the man wirily taking in every feature. He looked about her age give or take a year or two. His hair was a dark brown color and it stuck out messily in every direction. His eyes were so brown they were almost black and he was wearing what looked like a plain old shirt under his long sleeved jacket and black pants.

"As for the questions he asked well the first I'm not gonna answer. The second… meh nothin much. I was just curious." he had settled down again and was petting Stiria who had nearly fallen asleep on his shoulder. "Or I could help you find the passage to where your going." he smirked as he glanced at Blossom through his eyelashes. There was something about the way he looked at her that she just didn't like. It sent a uncomfortable shiver up her spine.

"Thank you for the offer but I think it'd be better if we found it ourselves." Blossom said carefully. Her eyes never left his even after he got up and jumped onto the top of the root nearly ten feet above them. 'Definitely not human.'

"Suit yourself." he said carelessly shrugging his shoulders. "But if you ever find yourself in a jam just ask and I'll lend a hand."

"And how exactly would I ask for help if I don't know who you are?"

He paused for a moment as if the thought had never crossed his mind. "Alright ya got me. I won't tell you my real name but you can call me Loki."

"As in the famous prankster?"

"The one and only." he winked at her once more before turning to walk off. "Be seeing you Pink."

She wasn't sure why but having him call her 'Pink' just didn't sit well with her. She wanted to snap at him for it but she didn't want him hanging around much longer either. So she stayed quiet watching as he vanished like the rolling mists.

There was now way they were gonna get back to sleep after that. So Blossom decided to move on, the passage was actually close by and she shouldn't have a problem finding it. Sliding the blades back into their holsters she pushed up and leaned Brick against Iento. The lizard wrapped her feather tipped tail around the unconscious boy. Getting up, Blossom changed into lighter clothes. 'If Svartálfahemir is anything like Muspell it's going to be hot.' she had slipped into a long pants and cropped tank top like shirt. The red ribbon she always had with her was again used as a belt.

She saddled both Erie Raptors then and tied all eight bags to Iento, Blossom attached Iento's reigns to Noctis's saddle after that. She tucked Accendo into one of the clothing bags before setting Stiria to watch incase he fell out. Once all that was done Blossom wrapped Brick up in his thick jacket before placing him into Noctis's saddle. The lizard seemed appalled by the fact and swiveled his head around to glare at the boy. Blossom scolded him before sliding into the saddle behind the redhead. "Laxat." with that both raptors got up and jogged off into the early morning light.

•••000•••

It's times like these that I wonder where I come up with these ideas. I wonder how I just pull stuff out of the air like I do.

I wasn't even thinking about this at first. I was just planning on writing about them finding the passage.

Meh. I liked how it came out. It should help out a little with the reds situation even if it docent explain a lot.

Please leave a review. Thank you. 


	17. Bad Riddle

Chapter 9: Bad Riddle

Disclaimer: I don't own PPG or Norse Mythology figures.

•••000•••

"Gggrrr!"

They had been traveling all morning! If she didn't find the passage soon she was gonna freeze every piece of bark on the tree until she did! Not only was she irritated about not being able to find the passage she was tired too. Thanks to that Loki character she had been up long before sunrise and to top things off Brick still hadn't woke even though it was nearly noon. She was beginning to worry about that.

Since the wind wasn't blowing Accendo had dug his way out of the bags. Unfortunately he had been anything but helpful. He complained more than Brick ever had and was pissing Stiria off so much she had threatened to personally whip up a blizzard for him.

"We might as well stop and rest for a while." Blossom sighed as the squawking birds proceded to pecking each other trying to see who could pull the most feathers out. "Noctis, usque." the raptor slowly did as he was told and crouched down to allow her off. When Brick was left on his back Noctis swiveled his head around to glare once more. He looked like he was about to bite the boy, giving him a stern look Blossom untied Iento and took all their equipment from her back. The female lizard wriggled around for a second before dropping into the snow with a contented hum.

When Blossom had finished Iento and Noctis were rolling around in the snow a few feet away. Accendo and Stiria were perched on a cluster of vines still screeching at each other. The girl furrowed her eyebrows, they were really making things difficult for her. Rubbing her temples gently she tried to ignore the two but it was getting harder to do with the slight pounding in her head.

'Ugh! You know what? You are no longer a Phoenix!' Squawking loudly Stiria flapped her wings whacking Accendo slightly. Blossom assumed he had grumbled back about what he was then because Stiria went off. 'Your a fire CHICKEN that's what you are! Phoenix are regal, majestic, beautiful birds.' Stiria's eyes had developed a glazed dreamy look. Moments later she snapped back and ruffled her feathers. 'NONE of which you are! So your a FIRE CHICKEN! And if you don't shut up in the next ten seconds I'm gonna find a way ta barbecue ya ALIVE!'

With a growl of frustration, Blossom tried her best to tune out the angry birds. They would drive her insane if she listened much longer. She decided to use the time to check on Brick once more. For him of all people to have been knocked out for this long was not a good sign. Worse yet if Loki could do this much damage without even trying, for there was no way he had been serious, then he could be a formidable foe to deal with. If he decided to come back it could mean serious trouble for the redhead.

Looking down at the boy she gently placed a hand on his forehead. She had to admit it just didn't feel right, normal Brick was constantly making noise and was the center of attention. For her to be around a silent unresponsive version was unnerving. If he didn't get up in the next few hours she didn't care about the mission she was heading straight back to the castle.

"Looks like the Ice Queen's melting a bit." Blossom was on her feet in seconds blades in her hands. Her eyes glowed faintly as she glared up at the figure lying amongst the branches swaying back and forth as if he were in a hammock. "Your not gonna do that every time I show up are you?"

"What do you want Loki?" Blossom half growled as she watched him sit up. 'How the hell did he sneak up like that again!'

"Aww your still mad at me?" Rolling onto his side Loki propped himself up on his elbow, cheek resting in the palm of his hand. "Would it help if I said sorry?"

When Blossom didn't respond he dropped his gaze sighing loudly. "Alright already I get it! I didn't exactly make the greatest first impression." he rolled his eyes before huffing loudly and sitting up. When still she didn't respond he jumped down, landing without so much as the soft crunch of snow. He crossed his arms behind his head swaying one foot back and forth. "Well I'd say an apology is out of the question since I'm not actually sorry. But I must say your friend really should have been back up by now. I didn't hit him all that hard…at least I don't think I did."

She knew he hadn't been serious during their last encounter. He himself just confirmed her suspicions. Though she wanted to trust Stiria, Blossom couldn't rid herself of the uncomfortable feeling she got around the dark haired man. And the fact that he had knocked Brick out only fueled her suspicions.

Just as she had that morning Stiria once again landed on Loki's shoulder. The Erie Raptors once more stood beside Blossom, though this time only Noctis remained tense.

"I'll ask again. What do you want?" Blossom questioned as she stared him down.

"You know, I don't think I ever got your name Pink." Loki stated completely disregarding her question. "Besides is that any way to talk to someone whose trying to help you?"

"Help?" she half shouted in disbelief. How dare he claim he was helping them after what he did that very morning. "How is knocking out my friend help!"

"That was purly self defense." He crossed his arms and stuck his nose in the air like a snooty child. "Its his fault for trying to hit me. Those swords could have really hurt you know."

"Well your not exactly one to side step the blame." Easing slightly out of her defensive stance Blossom stood tall. "If you hadn't appeared out of thin air like you did we wouldn't have attacked."

Loki spun around then, one hand raised as he pointed a finger, mouth open though not a word escaped. He closed his mouth then only to open it again. He continued this motion for a minute looking very much like a fish. With a loud snort he shaped his jaws shut, turning away with his arms crossed. He muttered something inaudible while glaring at the tree bark.

"Exactly my point." She stated with smug satisfaction. "Now you mind telling me what you did?" she waved a hand gesturing towards the redhead beside her.

"I didn't hurt him if that's what your implying." the dark haired teen huffed, refusing to look at Blossom. "All I did was-…oh…Oops…" Loki turned around then smiling sheepishly at her as he scratched the back of his head.

"What do you mean OOPS?" Blossom questioned her voice dangerously cold as she brought her weapons up again.

"Its nothing to worry about." Smiling apologetically he waved his hands in a dismissive fashion. "I just remembered that I hit a nerve is all. He's probably awake as we speak. He just…can't…move. Hehe."

"I'm sorry does this look awake to you?" Blossom nudged Brick gently in the side with her foot to emphasize her point. As expected she got no response.

"Yah… I can fix that I swear." Loki said looking like a child trying to cover up an accident before his parents found out. "All I have to do is pinch the nerve again and he'll be right back to the temperamental demon child he was last night. Can I do it after I'm done talking though? I really don't wanna have to put him back out right after I wake him up."

Blossom just continued to stare at the audacity the teen before her displayed. Did he take her for a fool or something? And there was no way she was letting him get anywhere near Brick again. He must have noticed the look on her face because he let out a small sigh, eyes closing for a moment.

"There's just no winning with you is there?" Dark brown eyes met pink as Loki gave her an almost sad look. "Seeing as I won't be trusted for a while. Here's a clue for you. 'I hide in plane sight I'm so easy to see I'm long and I'm strong there's so many of me I twist an I turn I whirl and I twirl I disguise what you seek yet you need only peek'."

"Huh?" in the smartest way possible, Blossom stared blankly at Loki trying to figure out what he was talking about.

The expression on Loki's fell even more as he crouched down. He began drawing shapes into the snow as an absolutely depressing aura surrounded him. Blossom could practically see storm clouds over his head as he glanced up at her pitifully. "I suck at riddles don't I?" his voice cracked as his eyes watered up with crocodile tears.

The young girl was at a loss for words. He looked so down right pathetic that, had she not been on her guard she would have walked over and tried to comfort the boy.

When a few minutes had passed and it was obvious the Blossom wasn't going to react the way he had hoped, Loki sprung back onto his feet. The large tears disappeared as he grinned widely at her.

"Well it's obvious I'm of no help at the moment soo... I'll get going now."

Without even a second for Blossom to react, Loki was standing in front of her. He leaned forward and pressed his lips against her nose, grinning at her shocked expression. Ducking under Blossom's arm, he kneeled in front of Brick as he reached out and whacked, not very gently she might add, the side of the unconscious teens neck.

Like a Jack in the Box toy, Brick shot up to his feet. Obvious mixtures of shock and irritation plastered across his face. If Loki had still been next to him, Brick definitely would have attacked him again. But as it were the dark haired teen was already springing his way up the vines he had been on previously.

Blossom remained frozen in shock and simply watched him make his way up at a leisurely pace. About half way up a glint of silver caught her eye, snapping her out of her trancelike state. He paused once he reached the top and glanced back.

"Since you lot didn't like the cool guy act, I'll just be plain old me." Loki stated as if he had just made the discovery of a lifetime. His mouth curled back in a wide grin. "I just hope your ready for some really random crap cause I'm gonna be popping in." with that said he disappeared again.

"Well he definitely fits into the 'Psycho Stalker' category…" Blossom nearly jumped out of her skin as Brick's low voice reached her. He was standing directly beside her with his arms crossed, an irritated scowl on his face. He didn't seem to notice her mini episode and continued "I really want to punch that guy."

'Well… at least he's back to normal.' as this thought crossed he mind, Brick turned around and began digging through the packs until he found whatever he was looking for. Blossom assumed it was food for the redheaded boy immediately set it aflame and began gnawing into it. He must have been really hungry for he was ripping at it like a starved animal. 'Well… about as normal as Brick can get anyway.'

•••000•••

IM SOO SORRY! Some things came up that I had to deal with and before I knew it a whole month had passed since my last update.

When I saw how long I had taken I kicked my butt back into drive and forced myself to finish this chapter. Even though I'm not entirely satisfied with how it turned out.

From now on I'll try my best to at least update once a week. I'm just having slight difficulties since I based this in a Medieval setting and even though I am horribly challenged when it comes to technology I realized how much I need it.

I'm very tempted to write a story in a futuristic setting to make up for my lack of tech in this one. And admitably that one comes much easier for me but I yelled at myself that I shouldn't even try writing a new story before I finish the one I'm working on first. I've always complained about the story's I come across that are really good and don't have an ending. My story may not be all that great but I want to make damn sure I don't turn into a hypocrite and leave a story hanging.

On a different note I'd like to thank my only constant reviewer Dreams for giving feed back. I know most people just write story's and don't need them but I really like reading reviews. The fact that I'm not getting reviews is a little discouraging and then I don't really feel motivated to write more... DANT IT I KNOW THERE'S MORE THAN ONE OF YOU WHO READS THIS CAN'T YA TAKE AT LEAST A SECOND TO LEAVE A REVIEW AFTER?

Sorry for the random outburst... But seriously can I at least get two reviews this time? How am I supposed to know if my story is turning out ok if I don't get feed back?

Well anyway please leave a review or comment…or not I'm getting tired of caring…

If anyone needs me I'll be under the dark doom clouds munching on a plate of cookies. *Quietly sits in emo corner.* 'IM NOT SHAREING MY COOKIES THIS TIME! THEIR MINE!' 


	18. Warm Welcome

Chapter 10: Warm Welcome

Disclaimer: Would I even be on this site if I owned this?

As a side note: '•X•X•' means the beginning or end of a flashback in this chapter. And after rereading my last few chapters I realized that it would be a lot easier to understand if I used something to identify the time skips so I'll try using '•••***•••' hehe I really like those dots for some reason... ••••••^_^•••••• hee.

And I've been told that my story was moving a bit slow. I apologize if it docent seem to move fast enough but I feel I'm moving too fast...anyway this chapter is gonna have my very first! *Drum roll* BATTLE SCENE! (Even if it's just against a giant creature>_>) I don't know how well I'll do since I haven't written one before so here's to hoping it turns out alright! ^_^' *Crosses fingers*

•••000•••

"Your pathetic."

"Shut uuuup."

"Well you've got no one to blame but yourself, it's your own fault." Blossom stated with a slightly annoyed tone.

•X•X•

After Brick and woken up and Loki had left, Blossom decided to take a look at what could have made the silver shine of light earlier. Tearing her way into the thick vines against the roots had revealed a large tunnel. After a bit more excavating Blossom found the tunnel led to the exact passage they had been searching for. Needless to say she was a bit excited and had ran back to tell the others. What awaited her was enough to make her tug at her long red hair in frustration though.

She couldn't have been gone for more than a half hour and already Brick had gotten into trouble. When she returned from the dark passage he and Accendo were sprawled out on the snow. The teen and the bird were both moaning in pain amongst a pile of food wrappers.

'I tried to stop them' Stiria stated as she fluttered down to land on Blossom's shoulder. 'but they wouldn't listen to me.'

While she was gone the idiots had managed to eat through nearly a weeks worth of food. Blossom was about to yell at them but decided not to as Noctis walked over and began prodding the two in their sides with his tail and foot.

The torment Noctis was putting them through was enough for her to calm back down. After all it was rather funny to see the weird faces they made.

•X•X•

That was nearly an hour ago and now she had to deal with the complaining of not one but two hotheads. The featherbrained Accendo was tucked back into one of the bags. Brick on the other hand was slumped against Blossom's back with one arm around her waist while the other draped over her shoulder. She would have made him ride Iento but the moron had fallen off as soon as the lizard got up. So once again Blossom had to ride with Brick while Noctis attempted to sneakily, or what he thought was sneakily, knock the boy off. An Blossom was sorely tempted to let the raptor do just that.

The morning hadn't been so bad since he had been unconscious but now…now Brick was awake. She was unbearably uncomfortable. At first she simply blamed it on his body heat and irritation, but as time drew on and the feeling had yet to pass, Blossom was uncertain. Being pressed against him was like leaning against a living furnace. That alone had her squirming but on top of that the jerk wouldn't hold still. He kept moving around and each shift upset his stomach which elicited more whines or moans of protest.

She didn't know how much more she could take of this torment. It didn't help any that the tunnel they were traveling in had near zero visibility. If it weren't for her enhanced sight and the raptors night vision she would have walked into a million walls by now.

'Well the place we were going is underground.' Stiria stated in a matter of fact way. She was perched on Iento's saddle horn while clinging to one of the bags. 'Did you actually expect any type of light source down here? We'd be lucky if we found a glow worm.'

"I know that." Blossom replied running her fingers through her hair only to whack Brick by accident. Said boy dropped his head onto her shoulder before letting out an unnecessarily loud moan. Blossoms first reaction was to shove him off of her shoulder. This resulted in him flopping over onto his back before moaning even louder.

"What was that for Pink!" he shot her an angry glare which would have been creepy considering his blood red eyes but the obvious pained look and whiney tone worked against him. "That hurt you know!"

"Well maybe if you stopped moaning like something tried to kill you! Your so damn annoying!"

"It's not my fault."

"It IS your- mmph!" Brick had suddenly grabbed her covering her mouth. Though she struggled a bit she couldn't get out of his grasp.

"Quiet!" he hissed into her ear, keeping his own voice as low as possible. The urgency in his tone stilled her thrashing, pink orbs darting around alert. He released her then as he reached for Noctis's reigns.

That was when she heard it. She hadn't noticed before thanks to the idiots constant noise.

Breathing. And whatever it was had to be huge. Yet how could something so big fit into this tiny tunnel? Sure the passage wasn't all that small but it could only have a fifteen foot diameter at the most. And whatever that were hearing sounded colossus.

Glancing back, Blossom could see that Stiria had joined Accendo in the bag as both peeked through tiny slits. Iento seemed a bit nervous but continued on. Brick and Noctis on the other had were as tense as they could possibly get. The rapter was crouched down slightly, fangs bared, arms tucked as his claws flexed. Brick was practically suffocating her as he leaned his larger frame over her, one arm effectively caging her against him. And the heat, oh the heat was unbearable! Was this idiot trying to roast her alive!

All those thoughts flew the coop then as something to the right shifted. Pink eyes strained to see what was there, bringing forth a jagged wall. It took her all of three seconds to realize that the 'wall' wasn't actually what she thought it was. Snatching the reigns from Brick, she yanked them causing Noctis to swerve to the left. She leaned to the side, grabbing Iento's reigns and tossed them onto the females saddle horn.

Brick glanced down at her with a questioning look. The expression quickly melted into horror as he shouted at Noctis "CURRERE!" Blossom fully expected the raptor to ignore the boy but was surprised when he took off full speed, no questions asked.

That was when she saw them, two enormous diamond shaped, blood red eyes. They rose higher and higher into the air as the owner stood towering over the group. Ivory white fangs glowed with a deadly shine between them. The maw of the beast fell open then as a sphere of ghostly blue light erupt from it's throat illuminating the area in a blinding flash.

She had only a moment to see the creature before shielding her eyes from the burning light. To say it was colossus was an understatement. She realized then that they had long since left the tunnel. Blossom and Brick put together were barely the size of it's toe. It couldn't even stand up straight in the cavern they were now in even though the ceiling was a good fifty feet up. It was like a tyrannosaurus on steroids! Muscles bulged all over it's body threatening to burst as they rippled beneath the skin. Ivory white scales coated it like chainmail. Spade like plates trailed down it's spine to end in a large spear covered club tipped tail. The rest of it had so many spine like projections it could put a porcupine to shame. (Think T-Rex with major muscle, stegosaurs plates down the back, ankylosaurus tail, and enough spines to make a porcupine look cuddly.)

Blossom nearly fell from Noctis then as Brick jerked on the reigns. The raptor swerved to the right, coiling like a spring before leaping onto a small ledge. As he did this Brick spun around in the saddle casting a wave of fiery bullets over his shoulder. They exploded upon impact with the monsters ghostly blue attack.

The cavern came to life as a rainbow of color burst forth showering the area in fire as the remnants of the blast shot in every direction. Angry blue flames grazed Blossom's side as she knocked a few sparks from Iento with her laser vision. Though it stung she ignored the pain coating it in a layer of ice.

"Take the reigns!" Brick shouted as he got up, positioning himself on Noctis's flank. "Try to hold him steady!"

Blossom didn't have time to argue as the beast let out an ear shattering roar. It charged after them creating violent tremors as rocks began falling from above. For something so big it sure as hell could run!

Glancing back over her shoulder, Blossom was nearly blinded by the blaze surrounding Brick as he shot off wave after wave of fiery blasts. 'Note to self. Never get caught in front of one of those blasts.' the heat radiating off of Brick was enough to melt the permafrost she had coated her side with and there was no doubt in her mind that he could have burned her alive if he wanted to. Yet the monster seemed impervious to the attack as the fire simply grazed over it's scales or bounced off entirely.

"Damn it!" Brick growled in a low guttural voice. "This isn't working!"

"Fire docent seem to affect it!" Blossom called back, eyes now glued firmly to the path ahead to steer the Raptors. "We have to use something else! Maybe my ice will work!"

When she received no response, Blossom threw a glance over her shoulder only to see that her idiot of a partner had jumped off. A harsh yank on the reigns had Noctis skidding to a halt as rocks sprayed around them. Brick was rocketing towards the beast, a blazing trail of fire and blood red light left in his wake. The monster lowered it's head farther as it charged, obviously intending to ram the boy. When he was close enough Brick pulled back his right hand. The inferno of flames blazed brighter before condensing into a glowing red ball around his fist.

"Let's see you eat this bastard!"

His fist collided with the armor plated skull sending out a shockwave of fire and air. Moments later another blinding flash was cast forth. Shielding her eyes from the light, Blossom never saw him coming until it was too late. Brick crashed into her knocking the girl from the saddle. Both teens slammed into the ground gouging trenches in solid stone.

"Uugghh!" Brick moaned, rolling over to pick himself up. "Ok. That definitely wasn't my brightest idea."

"Gee ya think?" coughing a bit, Blossom heaved herself up out of the trench.

The beast didn't even look hurt, a bit dazed maybe but definitely not hurt. The hit had caused it to stop and stumble back a little. It simply shook it's head though, blinking a few times before growling loudly.

The Erie Raptors came to a skidding halt beside the crater, peering down at the teens. Blossom didn't even look at them. "Noctis I need you and Iento to run, find someplace safe to hide. Stiria keep an eye out for Iento the bags will slow her down."

Stiria let out a piercing shriek as she clawed her way back out of the bag. Ebony wings flapped furiously as she hovered in front of the lizards. Seconds later she was joined by Accendo before they looped around, taking off farther into the caverns. Iento immediately dashed after them. At first Noctis seemed as if he would be stubborn like usual and stay but after a moment he reluctantly turned around zipping off after the others.

'YOU HAD BETTER NOT DIE!' Stiria screeched in the distance. The girl just raised a hand, airily waiving her off.

"You sure your up for this?" Brick questioned. He now stood beside her, the ancient swords in his hands blazing a blood thirsty crimson. "I know you haven't fought in a while."

Instead of answering his question aloud, Blossom slipped her hands beneath the fabric of her clothes. Grasping both hilts she pulled them out, easily sliding into a defensive crouch.

"Well I guess that answers that question. Just don't make me have to come and save your sorry ass."

•••000•••

Wahoo! Another chapter finished! I just hope I didn't royally suck at writing the fight so far. Now, usually I try to keep my chapters tied up at the ends so there's no waiting in suspense until the next update but I decided to be a little evil this time.

Though I won't spoil my plot for the next chapter I will say that I have a surprise in store for my readers. *Cackles manically* I'LL NEVER TELL! MUUHAHA!

Sorry for the mini meltdown in the last end notes. I had too much sugar. And today was just random moments like usual. Hehe.

Please leave a review or comment. ^_^ 


	19. Wasn't it supposed to be white

Chapter 11: Wasn't it supposed to be white?

Disclaimer: I really don't like disclaimers... I don't own PPG or Norse Mythology -_-'

•••000•••

'Damn it. Why did she have to come? Why couldn't she have gone with the others? WHY did she have to fight?'

GGGAAAAAAUUUUU!

BOOM!

Clack clack.

'Oh yah. That's why.' Shoving aside large boulders, Brick picked his way out of the newest pile of rubble.

The giant they had been fighting was proving to be quite a challenge. No matter how hard Brick hit the beast he could barely do any damage. Every punch, every kick, every blast of fire just skimmed the surface or ricochet off entirely. The swords seemed to hurt it a little but hardly left more than a scratch.

Blossom seemed to be having more luck though. Her punches and kicks were about as useless as his own, but her ice attacks left significant damage. Blossom being, well Blossom had noticed this early on and had been incorporating ice into all her attacks ever since.

GGGAAAAAUUUUUU!

The monster shrieked loudly then as Blossom managed to rip a shallow gash in it's side. She sped off as it lashed out at her then darted back concentrating on the wound. She managed to widen it significantly before being swatted away.

Following her lead, Brick dove under it's flailing arms before burying the blades into the torn flesh. With a burst of energy he lit the swords, charing it a dark black.

GGGAAAAUUUUUU!

Brick nearly went deaf as the roar boomed through the cavern. It cranked it's neck around then as it snapped at him. Razor sharp fangs clamped like a bear trap over his shoulder, the beast plucking him off like an annoying bug. It swiveled it's head around to smash the teen into a wall tearing the swords from his grip as the air left him.

A small trail of blood dripped down from his shoulder then as the monster released his arm, opening it's maw wide. Ghost blue light gathered at the back of it's throat as waves of rancid breath blew over the teen.

Still dazed, Brick shook his head lightly trying to regain his composure. Red eyes widened considerably as he realized his position. 'Crap! I can't dodge this one!' Arms crossed before his face, Brick prepared for the oncoming attack.

BOOM

'Huh?' Brick hesitantly opened one eye, he let out a sigh of relief. Brick was gonna have to thank her later.

Blossom had appeared out of seemingly nowhere, her hands glazed in thick layers of sharp jagged ice. She swung at the monster and had hit it hard enough to redirect the blast.

"Brick! Catch!" streaks of pink blast from her hands rocketing towards him. The poor boy barley had time to react before they crashed into the wall on either side of his face, missing him by hairs.

He nervously shifted his gaze to the side coming face to blade with one of Blossom's twin daggers. He swallowed dryly before grasping the hilt and yanking it from the wall.

Yelping in surprise, the teen nearly dropped the dagger as a shockwave of icy energy pulsed through his hand upon contact. Heat he could handle but this cold was unnatural. How something could be so cold that it burned was beyond him.

It occurred to him then. If he was holding Blossom's dagger, what was she using? He had no time to dwell on this though, for the monsters tail was careening toward him.

Snatching the other blade he quickly dodged, dropping to the ground and racing beneath the beast. 'Well if she threw em might as well use em.' Brick immediately began slashing at it's leg marveling at how easily the skin tore. It had been so difficult before with his own blades. 'Speaking of which, their still stuck in the bastards side.'

Brick quickly dodged an arm before making a dash for the swords. Just as his fingers gripped the hilt he was sent crashing to the ground as a blur of red and pink smashed into him.

The boy didn't have to think too hard to know what had happened, especially after small flakes of ice and hair landed in his face.

"Sorry Brick." Blossom growled as she rolled off of his chest. The temperature around him noticeably dropped as she stood, fists clenching at her side. A hand was suddenly in his face as she offered to help him up.

Once back on his feet he handed her the daggers. "I believe these belong to you."

"Keep them for now. It'll help more than your swords."

He would have insisted she take them but the girl was already running off, a trail of dark pink light trailing after her. 'She ignored me… again.' Oooh he was mad now.

Without a second thought he blast off for the dino's face. He slashed at it's eye, blinding it with blood. Plated lids closed over it's bloody eye before it began thrashing.

Like a wreaking ball it smashed around, ramming it's armored skull into every surface it came in contact with. Rocks and debris began to fall from above forcing Brick to dodge.

"Are you insane!" Blossoms voice seemed to echo around him then. Glancing up he noticed the girl twirling through the air, gracefully dodging falling stalactites. "It's going to bring the entire place down!"

"I kinda noticed that!" shouting back at her, he continued to evade the descending rocks. 'I really should start thinking things through!'

"Look out!" Blossom shouted from above. Brick spun around just in time to see the monsters tail speeding towards him.

'Aww crap.'

Hit in the side, he let out a loud grunt. 'Wait a minute…' The hit had come from the opposite side. It didn't hurt too much either.

"Whose savin, whose 'sorry ass' now!"

"Put me DOWN damn it!" Brick shouted completely mortified. He knew he was blushing and who could blame him. Blossom had just managed to save him and for that he was grateful, but how she had saved him was a different matter entirely!

The redhead was currently tucked against her, wrapped in her arms like a freaking BRIDE! HE WAS NOT A GIRL FOR CRYING OUT LOUD!

He shoved against her, forcing her to release him. Startled by the sudden movement she immediately let go, stumbling back from the force.

Her shocked expression quickly melted into a glare. It didn't take a genius to know she was pissed. "What is your problem?" A loud ringing sound emanated from the air around her as the particles began to freeze. "I'm trying to help and this is how you thank me?"

"I didn't need your help!" His temper flared. He was already pissed off from being ignored and now she wanted to yell at him? 'Who cares if she saved me! I am NOT taking this shit!'

"Fine then! Next time I'll let you get hit!"

The teens continued to argue, shooting insults back an forth, the colossus forgotten in the background as it raged. Neither seemed to even notice as boulders crashed around them the beast practically dancing overhead.

It wasn't until they were about to be stepped on that they finally realized what was going on. The cavern was virtually buried under piles of stone and earth yet the beast continued it's rampage. With hardly any room left they would surely be crushed beneath it's oncoming feet.

What was the use of running? There was nowhere to run to. Brick could make out each and every scale on the three toed foot as it came crashing down at them. 'What a way to go… squished under some brutes smelly feet…'

Glancing over at the girl standing beside him, he let out a sigh. Even now she was still keeping that damnable stoic look. Would she ever show another emotion beside anger? Hell she didn't even look shocked that they were about to be turned into pancakes.

'Aww why not.' stepping to the side, Brick shifted closer to Blossom before tossing an arm over her shoulder. If he didn't know any better he would have thought she had actually smiled just then. Well guess he'd never know for sure.

…

A bright flash of green was the last thing he saw.

'Wasn't it supposed to be a white light?'

•••000•••

HAHAHAHAHA! I'll leave you to guess what just happened. And just incase I confused some of you that white light is supposed to be referring to the 'white light at the end of the tunnel' people talk about seeing when you die.

I have no idea what happened to this chapter it was supposed to be short. I had planned for it to have a battle at the very beginning and turn into something else and somehow it ended up with the whole thing being a fight…

Well I hope the battle was ok. I never really wrote fight scenes before the last chapter so I hope it didn't seem to run on for too long.

I'd also like to thank megmeg999 for the encouragement! I was really feeling down about my lack of reviews at the time. But hey, like she said I'm still pretty new to the actual writing and updating part so I got over it. I'd just like to say a warm THANK YOU anyway because her email really cheered me up.

On another note HAPPY HALLOWEEN! It's my favorite holiday! I'm mean who docent like free candy? I'm probably gonna have a stomach ache tomorrow but who cares it'll be soooo worth it.

I hope I can find a good haunted house this year… the last few years didn't have many scary things around and I'd really like to be scared shitless just once. In reference to this, for any of you out there who think Halloween has really been in a rut you'd probably like to see this YouTube video I saw a while back. It's called 'Halloween Hoopla' with a character called 'Foamy the Squirrel' he tends to rant and rave about all sorts of things that piss him off and frankly I agree with a lot of what he says. Except the newer ones... Meh it's still pretty funny though.

Please leave a review! Thank you! And have a Happy Halloween! 


	20. Whatever normal was

Chapter 12: Whatever normal was

Aaaaaahhhhh! Why does everybody want to go to Hawaii? Every time I see or hear something about vacations or traveling everybody's wanting to go to Hawaii! IT SUCKS OVER HERE! ITS SO FRAKING BORING! Once you see everything there's nothing left to do! Basically IM STUCK ON A ROCK IN THE MIDDLE OF NOWHERE!

Ery body want ta come ta Hawaii… I WANNA GET THE HELL OUT OF HERE!

Too much sugar... I dipped into the Halloween candy. I told myself not to but it was like a sirens sweet call. I couldn't resist just taking one. And once I took one I NEEDED another. I need more self control... -_-' *Sits in corner sulking*

Aaaanyway, moving on…

Disclaimer: I still don't own PPG or Norse Mythology. But I do own lot if candy right now and the little voice in my head telling me to eat the candy!

Must resist… *Stares at candy jar* whimper...

•••000•••

Idiots! These two were complete and total IDIOTS! Seriously, how can anyone be stupid enough to just stand there and let themselves be crushed?

Then again it was a relief that they were unconscious. It would be such a pain in the ass if they were awake and complaining again. Because, once again, how can someone be so stupid that they would stand around arguing when there's a rampaging dino standing over them?

On a totally different subject, why in the name of jewels save them. If they were dumb enough to just stand there in the first place why rescue them at all.

'Wait. Now I remember.' It was those familiars. Why Volnus had taken a liking to them would forever be a mystery, but whatever.

They must have heard the footsteps because the Erie Raptors came charging out of a side cavern then. Running over, the male skidded to a stop and immediately began picking at the redheaded girl like a fussing mother. The female lizard doing the same for the boy.

'They were worried.'

"No, really? I never would have guessed."

'Don't get snippy with me.'

"Oww! Ok, ok."

•••***•••

Stagnant air hung warm and depressing in the cavern. Large though it may be, there was never much ventilation underground. Pillars of glowing crystal and precious gems seemed to hold the ceiling in place some twenty to thirty feet up. The walls were coated in varying arrays of weapons, shields, and armor. Everything from small hand knives to colossus axes littered the floors. In each corner where wall met floor were heaps of bones and hides of all shapes and sizes.

At the fore front of the cavern was an enormous furnace, so large even a jotunn could fit in it. A few feet above that was a short tunnel with a large door attached.

At the far back of the cavern was a large cot of sorts piled high with furs and skins. Though most of those were shoved off onto the floors to make room for it's newest occupants.

Here was where the two redheaded teens wound up. Their Erie Raptors, now stripped of gear, were curled at their feet on the floor. The two familiars on the other hand were perched high above them on the handle of one of the many axes hanging on the wall.

'At least their quiet.'

"Until they wake up."

Seated before the large furnace was a dark figure. A long sleeved, cropped hoodie covered the upper half of the slim, muscular build. Pitch black pants cloaked the lower. Emerald green orbs shone brightly beneath the hood, locks of ebony hair peeking out the sides.

Clasped in one hand was a large hammer, the other gripped a short tongs. Directly in front of the person was an enormous billhook, firmly pressed over an anvil with the tongs. The axe end of the weapon glowed a bright cherry red as it was pounded repeatedly with the hammer. Small sparks flew in every direction, the loud boom of the impact echoing like thunder through the cavern.

'You just jinxed it. I think their waking up.'

"They are." The billhook was left on the anvil, both hammer and tongs placed on the ground beside it.

Getting up, the hooded figure walked over to the sleeping teens. A quiet chuckle came from beneath the hood.

The redhead boy was sprawled across the cot, snoring like he hadn't slept in ages. He was trying to roll over but the girl beside him had a foot shoved against his side, preventing him from moving any closer. Said girl was virtually pressed against the wall as far from the boy as she could get, as if he had some sort of disease. Yet somehow she still looked quite graceful despite the torn clothing and matted hair. He must have been pretty uncomfortable where he was though, because a moment later the boy had rolled right over the females leg and curled against her side. This seemed to tick her off as she tried to shove him away. He in turn latched on, pulling her closer.

Soft pink eyes fluttered open irately. She quickly shoved against the male trying to pry him off, completely oblivious to their silent spectator. It took her a few moments before she realized she wasn't alone. When she did, she visibly froze, body ridged as stone.

The pink of her eyes darkened noticeably as it locked onto the emerald orbs watching her. She didn't move an inch, just watched. Not even reacting when the boy shifted closer, squeezing her against him.

"Relax. If I wanted you dead I would have let you get crushed earlier."

The pink of her eyes lightened a bit but there was no other reaction. The male raptor woke up then, raising his scaly head to the dark clothed figure. He nudged black gloved hands until he received the scratching he requested. This helped quite a bit as the redhead calmed, relaxing almost completely as if a switch had gone off.

"So, might I ask a name."

The girl remained silent before finally her quiet voice came out. It had a ring to it like the crystal in the caves when they crashed together. "…Blossom. Glacie Regina Blossom."

"Mmm. Odd, but ok." Shoulder length ebony locks fell as the hood was pulled back. The front of the jacket was pulled open as well to reveal a dark green cropped tank top. "Ventus Trax Buttercup."

"So you saved us?" it sounded more a statement than a question. "Thank you."

"Not a problem. You should be thanking those two." Buttercup pointed skyward at the two birds perched above. "If Volnus hadn't taken a liking to them I wouldn't even have known you existed."

"Volnus?" Blossom sounded honestly confused then as her pink eyes flashed around seeking the object of her query.

'At least this ones smart.' Volnus quietly hissed against Buttercup's ear. 'She knows I'm a familiar just by name.'

"Yah I guess your right." Buttercup replied gaining another confused look from the other girl. "Hehe. Sorry, this is Volnus."

Buttercup heard a soft intake of breath from Blossom as she turned around. Almost unnoticeable against her dark locks was a large black gecko. It was practically tangled into the short strands as it clung to the back of her head. Buttercup shrugged it off, she and Volnus had always been oddballs. They never were normal, whatever normal was.

"So Volnus is a gecko."

"Gecko?" Buttercup parroted.

"It is a… gecko right?" Blossom asked throughly confused.

"Oh my gosh! Are you serious?" Buttercup jumped, spinning around to face Blossom. She reached up to feel at the familiar on the back of her head. "Your a gecko?"

'Yes I'm a gecko you idiot!' Volnus hissed indignantly. 'What did you think I was a fly!'

"No! I thought you were a bat!" She tugged her hands away just before Volnus could swipe at them. "This explains soo much."

It was then that Buttercup remembered the presence of the other teens. Blossom, who probably forgot about the boy, was once again trying to pry him off of her body. He was obviously reluctant to let go, squeezing tighter each time she pushed against him.

"What's up with him?" Green orbs flashed with amusement as Blossom froze again with a deer-in-headlights look. As soon as it appeared it was gone though, replaced by a calm demeanor. 'Girls good at hiding emotions.'

"Bricks just being an idiot." Blossom monotoned. Buttercup was getting the impression that this was a regular occurrence.

"Isn't it normal for a guy to stay close to his girlfriend?" Buttercup tilted her head to the side. She almost burst out laughing then as Blossom turned several shades of pink before she could stop herself.

"I am NOT his girlfriend!" Blossom stated in an almost horrified tone. The look on her face didn't help though. She just looked embarrassed instead.

"Really? Could have fooled me. I mean I did find the two of you together." Buttercup couldn't resist poking a little fun at the girl. She just looked so flustered. "You practically look identical and you guys were bickering like an old married couple. I just assumed you were a couple of Muspell hotheads on your honeymoon or something."

"I'm not from Muspell either."

"Ok now your just lying through your teeth."

"I am not his girlfriend and I am not from Muspell." Blossom stated once more. "I'm from Niflheim."

"Yah right. Like I'm gonna believe that one." Green eyes rolled as Buttercup scoffed at the other female. "People from Niflheim don't have red hair OR pink eyes. There all so freaking white they blend in with the snow. Sure your skin could pass, barley I might add, but your hair and eyes? No way."

Blossom didn't answer her this time and Buttercup was certain she had won the argument. Glancing at the other girl, her jaw dropped, she was certainly at a loss for words. Blossom had managed to wriggle her way out of the boys arms just enough to sit up. Her hand was stretched out towards the other girl palm up. The air around her shimmered with bright energy as ice crystals formed, tiny snowflakes falling. In the center of her hand was a large chunk of ice. Like water the redhead moulded the ice shaping it into various forms before turning it into a perfect, fist sized sphere.

She tossed the globe to Buttercup. The girl was at a loss for words. It really was ice, and only those born from Niflheim could produce ice. It didn't matter if you could control water or wind, you needed a perfect balance of both for ice to form.

'Looks like she got ya. She's really from Niflheim.'

Though Buttercup acknowledged the fact, there was no way she was about to admit she was wrong. Especially to someone she barley knew. Even if she did feel totally at ease around the other girl.

Buttercup picked up a soft growling sound then before Blossom let out a high pitched squeal. Faster than she could blink a wave of ice washed over the side of the cot, slamming into one of the many pillars in a torrential blast.

Buttercup was just about to ask what the hell she was doing when a loud groan caught her attention. Flicking her gaze to the side, she noticed a form under the mountain of ice. A kick to the pile caused a small avalanche. Beneath the ice was the boy that had been curled against Blossom.

'The idiot grabbed someplace he shouldn't have touched.' Volnus cackled loudly. 'By the way, she said his name earlier. You really should remember it.'

Looking back, Buttercup could see Blossom clutching her top tightly, cheeks blazing the same shade of red as her hair. Wow, that was the most emotion she'd seen yet.

"What the heck was that for Pink?" The boy, what was it… something to do with rocks right? And it started with a 'B'… Brock! That was it! …no…Brick! There we go. He was currently attempting to push the ice off of him without actually moving. After a moment he seemed to give up and the pile began to melt, steam rising around him.

"Well that's one way to steam dry clothes."

Buttercup really did laugh this time. Brick obviously hadn't noticed her standing beside him an panicked the second he heard her voice. He flopped over backwards scattering the cubes across the floor. Once there he scrambled to his feet only to slip on the half melted chunks, landing face first into the puddles.

For a moment Buttercup could feel anger emanating from the boy and prepared for an attack. A soft sound caught her attention but she didn't take her eyes off him. He on the other hand payed the utmost attention to the noise. Like a slap in the face, his anger quickly melted into obvious embarrassment.

All the tension in him disappeared instantly as he picked himself up, one finger scratching the side of his nose as he tried to hide his face. She could tell he was a little red, and not from the fall either. He glanced quickly at Blossom before turning away.

Blossom was covering her mouth with a hand, shoulders shaking softly. Buttercup figured she was just laughing at Brick. Since he no longer seemed hostile, Buttercup decided to just ignore him and made her way back to the hearth.

'Ahhh. Young love.'

"You sound like a granny."

'Shut up! I'm younger then you!'

"Then stop acting like an old person!"

"Ugh."

"'What!'" Buttercup shouted as Volnus shrieked. The raven haired girl spun around coming face to chest with Brick. 'Woah. Damn Jotunn bastards. Why they gotta be so tall?'

Redirecting her view up to his eyes, Buttercup glared at the teen. For some reason she didn't like him all that much. The fact that he was taller than her didn't help much either, she really needed to get over that height problem.

"Where are we?" He practically growled at her, obviously mad for being snapped at. His voice reminded her of the blazing flames in the hearth, and for some reason, she could swear he smelt of sulfur.

"Oh yah." Buttercup mumbled. She had forgotten that they were unconscious when she brought them here. Her talk with Blossom had only proved more of a distraction. "Wasn't that supposed to be your first question?" Glancing around Brick's shoulder, Buttercup directed her question to Blossom, ignoring the boy completely.

Buttercup saw the redhead look away sheepishly before Brick shifted, blocking her view of the girl. "Little over protective much?" she sneered.

He just continued to glare at her. The only proof that he had even heard the remark was a light dusting of pink on his face. "I don't want to ask again."

The two teens stared each other down. She had never backed down from a fight and she wasn't about to start now. Especially for some Muspell brat who really needed to be taken down a peg.

Whack!

"Oww!" Brick broke away first, covering the side of his head. "Damn it Pink! What was that for!"

"Learn some manners block head!" Blossom snapped, now standing beside the other teens. Her arms were crossed over her chest, foot tapping impatiently. She honestly looked like an irritated mother. "At the very least you should thank her for saving us."

Turning away from the two females, Brick folded his arms muttering under his breath.

"Don't mind him. He's just grumpy about being save by a girl…twice." Blossom rolled her eyes at the boys behavior, obviously used to it. The corners if her mouth twitched up as he growled quietly upon hearing her last comment. "Not that were ungrateful but it would be nice to know."

"Well I assume you already know your in Svartálfaheimr, correct?" Blossom nodded silently, waiting for Buttercup to continue. "Well I can't really tell you the location exactly, but were on the outskirts of Gold Rush and Silver Sickle."

The redhead noticeably paled at this. Buttercup didn't have to ask why, she already knew. Both towns were quite famous, even outside of Svartálfaheimr. And seeing as the only good that came from either town was their weaponry didn't make it any better.

"Aren't both those places, like criminal capital?" Brick questioned, looking right over Blossoms shoulder. "You know, Black Market, chain violence, gangs, gambling… and giant creatures that pop out of random peoples asses. Oof-"

The boys snickering was cut short as Blossom promptly elbowed him. "That explains the giant dino from earlier."

"Oh yah. Big Mama. Frankly I'm surprised you two lasted as long as you did." Buttercup attempted to high-five the slightly shorter girl, awkwardly drawing back when Blossom just stared blankly. "Yah- well anyway. Most souls unfortunate enough to stumble upon Big Mama usually get eaten. That old bats been hanging around for as long as I can remember. Some folks even started using her as a Boogyman."

"Got one hell of a bite, I can tell ya that." Brick murmured, absently rubbing his shoulder. "Hey, how'd these bandages get here?"

"Well I wasn't about to let you bleed all over my bed." Buttercup turned away again, this time making the rest of the way back to the hearth. She picked her tools back up and shifted the billhook into the fire.

She could hear the reds quietly bickering behind her as she reheated the metal.

'Their arguing over how to repay you for helping them.'

"…"

'What the heck is that?'

"What's, what?"

'That glowing thing over there.'

Buttercup turned just in time to see Blossom rushing over to the bags. A biohazard green light was spilling out of one of the pockets. Brick stepped in the way again just before Buttercup could see what it was. This boy was seriously getting on her nerves.

Since he was obviously gonna be an ass about it, Buttercup simply turned back to her billhook. Brick then made his way over to stand beside Blossom.

'It looks like a necklace.' Volnus hissed, watching the two teens. Brick obviously hadn't realized Volnus was watching while Buttercup's back was turned. 'By the way their arguing over it I'd have to say its pretty important.'

"When are they not arguing? I don't even know them and I can tell they bicker non stop." the billhook was placed back on the anvil as she whispered.

'Like you don't pick a fight with every guy you meet.'

"I do NOT!"

'Really…'

"…Ok maybe I do."

'Exactly. Now, back to the situation a-'

A loud banging on the door overhead had Buttercup jumping to her feet. She sprang up, grasping the handle and tugged the door open.

"Ventus! Aurum wants you NOW!" At the door was bulky man, maybe about five foot four. Far shorter than Buttercup's near six foot status. She recognized him from the local taverns as one of Aurum's lackeys. "Argentum's causing trouble in town again."

"Ugh! When will that guy learn?" Buttercup growed loudly. "Tell Aurum I'm coming."

With a quick nod the scruffy little man ran off. Slamming the door close, Buttercup stomped angrily over to her cot, kicking aside stray weapons. She flipped it over roughly, ignoring the startled protest of the reds and Raptors beside it.

There, beneath the frame lay a quarterstaff. The long weapon glowed brightly with it's many encrusted jewels. Unlike normal quarterstaffs Buttercup had used hides and bones in place of wood.

Making her way back to the door, she was surprised to see Blossom following her. "You do know I'm headed out to a fight, right?"

"Yep. Thought I'd come in case you needed any help."

'I highly doubt that.' Volnus murmured.

"I'm not gonna bail you out if you get in trouble again."

"I know."

"Suit yourself."

•••000•••

I had no idea how to end this chapter sooo… yah. BUTTERCUP FINALLY SHOWS UP! I was so conflicted on how to make her. I couldn't decide on wether I would make her with long hair or have her look more like the Anime version with short spiked hair. I was also conflicted on wether or not I would make her use a weapon. I decided on the weapon and then was torn between having her use a hammer or a staff. I've always thought it was pretty cool to see her carrying around this freaking huge ass hammer and swinging it around like it didn't weigh a thing. At the same time I wanted her to have a staff instead. It's always been cool to see people twirl around those long ass things and not get hurt. I tried it once and hit myself in the head… haha it hurt.

On another note I just realized I've been spelling 'Erie' wrong all this time…boy do I feel stupid… its supposed to be Eerie… I got used to the spelling already though so I'm not gonna change it.

Well I hope you enjoyed this chapter. I tried to make it longer since the last one was significantly shorter than my usual standard.

Please leave a review. Thank you! ^_^ 


	21. Not thinking Straight

Chapter 13: Not thinking Straight

OMG! I was soo surprised! I got more than a thousand hits! I can't believe that many people have read, or at least looked at my story. I even got two favs! And I've only been updating for two months!

Disclaimer: Do I really have to keep writing this? Honestly, if I owned this I wouldn't be on fanfic now would I? I still don't own PPG or Norse Mythology.

•••000•••

'Insanity… sheer insanity…'

"I'll say, this place is a mad house… I like it!"

'I know, right!'

Destroyed furniture and bits of glass littered the ground outside of a large tavern. Mobs of people surrounded the building, most fighting each other while a few stood idly by. Windows were shattered, doors ripped from their hinges, walls smashed clean through as people and furniture alike were thrown about.

Some distance away from the carnage was where Brick and Accendo found themselves. Brick had long since lost track of the green eyed girl they had been with. The second the building came into view she had charged off to join the mobs, Blossom hot on her tail.

The two had paused for a moment to look around and survey the situation. The only obvious thing he noticed was that the people fighting wore either silver or gold in some way.

'What to do, what to do…' Accendo chirped in a sing song way.

"Well first we should probably find Pink…" Brick thought aloud before he and Accendo made their way into the crowd.

•••***•••

'Well, that was one more of the many bad ideas I've had so far.'

Crash! Boom! Crack! Aaaahhhh!

Blossom and Buttercup were nowhere to be found outside the building so Brick had made his way inside. What awaited him was nothing but chaos. Unconscious bodies and debris covered the floors, there was even what looked like the remains of a chair lodged in the ceiling.

Whoosh BAM

Brick ducked just in time to avoid a random person that was thrown in his direction. Only to be hit by a barstool that came flying right after.

"Ohhh. That's it!" Brick snapped, looking around for who had hit him. The mob of bodies shifted then blocking whoever it was from view. Growling loudly, he grabbed the closest person to him, tossing the short man in the direction the chair had come from. A slightly taller person next to the man saw this and threw a punch.

The unexpected attack caught the teen square in the cheek. 'Bastard!' gritting his teeth, Brick quickly rounded on the guy punching him in the gut. Grunting loudly the guy crumpled to the ground. Things spiraled downhill from there as seemingly endless amounts of people came after him constantly replacing the ones he downed. 'Its like there's two more for every one I hit!'

Before long Brick was in the center of one of the many mobs throwing punch after kick after punch at whomever tried to land a hit. The faces all seemed to blend together, black hair, brown or green eyes, and short buff bodies. When the floor space became too crowded he dropped to the ground, did a handstand and spun like a top kicking everyone away. A slight twist of the wrist and he was back on his feet once more.

BOOM

Wood rained down as the ceiling shook, a cloud of dust billowing out before it gave way. The floor splintered beneath Bricks feet as something came crashing down.

A loud growling sound erupt from the crater in the floor as the dust began to settle. A flash of pink, a blur of red, and the person was back through the hole in the ceiling. Screams of terror followed immediately as more body's rained down.

'Damn she's ticked…' Accendo squawked from his perch at a relatively safe hole in the wall. 'I haven't seen her this mad in a long time.'

Ignoring the bird, Brick dashed over and leapt through the hole, dodging a flailing body. He had to duck as two more came flying past.

On the second floor was Blossom surrounded by the mobs as they charged. With the grace of a dancer she twirled around them, kicking, punching, or dodging. It was almost like watching a snake as she contort her body to dodge every hit that came her way. Eventually one managed to land a blow, his spike covered knuckles smashing into her outer thigh after missing her torso.

The irritated look on her face became down right malicious, eyes flashing damn near red as her heel slammed into the side of his face. The man flew past Brick, nearly hitting Accendo before smashing clear through the wall.

'Hey! Watch where your aim- ACK!' Accendo was forced to dive behind Brick to avoid the next person Blossom threw.

It was obvious that she didn't see them. She probably didn't even know they were there and if she did she didn't care. Her focus was entirely on the fight. Punch, kick, block, kick, punch, dodge, repeat. She was really going to town on this lot. They were dropping like flies… well the lucky ones were, the others were either smashed into the floor or tossed through the room and walls.

A blur of black suddenly flew by, startling Brick. Two pairs of crimson eyes widened as Brick and Accendo stared in disbelief. Dive-bombing the mob like a kamikaze fighter plane was a screeching mass of feathers and talons that was none other than Stiria.

With no signs of hesitation, she looped up into the air only to rocket down again raking her talons over every moving surface. It was obvious that she was out for blood and she wasn't stopping until she got it.

This was bad, familiars were like a mirror image of their partners. Being that Stiria was still a newborn she didn't have a clean grasp on her emotions yet. That in itself was bad enough but that also meant the overflow of her emotions would be passed on to Blossom. If Stiria was acting this crazy then Blossom would have to be downright unstable.

'Well that explains things.' Accendo chirped, peeking over Bricks shoulder. 'Stiria's pissed and Blossoms gone loony because of it.'

He was right. With every passing second, Blossoms instability became more and more obvious. She no longer seemed to care about the wellbeing of her opponents, not that she was being very gentle in the first place. Now though, her attacks were completely uncaring as she pounded the stuffing out of the Dark Elves surrounding her.

Grabbing the collar of one guy, she rammed her knee into his gut before effortlessly tossing him over her shoulder into another. Two more tried to gang up on her only for the redhead to place her hands onto their heads, lifting herself over them as she smashed them into one another. From there she allowed herself to fall backwards, landing on the shoulders of a emerald eyed Elf. Sitting on his shoulders, she wrapped her legs under his arms and tossed herself over his back, gripping his calves. With a swift jerk he crumpled like paper, body bending at an odd angle as she tightened her grip. Finally he lost his balance, smashing face first into the floor.

'Where'd she learn that?' Accendo questioned, obviously surprised. Brick didn't even respond as he continued staring. If his eyes got any wider they would definitely be falling out.

Without wasting a second, Blossom rolled off of the guys back. Crouching on the ground she swung her legs around knocking many off their feet. One of the taller elves managed to block the attack though, catching her by the ankle he pulled her off her feet. Caught off guard for a moment, Blossom dangled upside-down as he lifted her into the air.

The tall man let out a deep bark of laughter, crowing his accomplishment in catching the girl. This seemed to finally knock the redhead out of his surprised daze, crimson orbs burning in irritation. He wasn't quite sure why, but he was seriously pissed now.

Without the slightest hesitation Brick made his way into the crowd. Dodging punches, he quickly slipped behind the Dark Elf holding Blossom captive. Grabbing the shorter man by the arm he squeezed, tightening his grip until the man howled in pain, his arm making a soft pop.

Blinking rapidly, Blossom snapped back to reality. Twisting around she smashed her foot on top of the Elf's head knocking him unconscious. With an irritated snort Brick tossed the limp body aside not caring where it landed. He was far more concerned with the crazy redhead in front of him.

"You ok?" Blossom froze for a moment starring back at him like a startled animal before one of the Elves stumbled against her. Like a reflex his arms shot out wrapping protectively around the girls tiny frame as she fell against him. "Come on, let's get you out of here."

'Oh great. I'm turning into a freaking pansie!' Body going on autopilot Brick scooped Blossom up off the ground. Crouching low he sprung over the top of the crowd stepping on some unfortunate on his way down. "Accendo, you got Stiria?"

A loud screech to the left was confirmation enough as Brick ran off through a doorway. Coming to a stairwell he hopped up nearly four at a time before landing on the roof of the building. As soon as he did he regretted it though. He had thought the disaster Blossom created was bad, well he was sadly mistaken.

The rooftop was practically carpeted in unconscious elves, others screaming bloody murder as they were chucked over the railings. What surprised him the most was that even though they were being beaten, none of them actually seemed to be in life threatening conditions. Even the ones that were thrown to the ground below seemed to be no more than unconscious, not even a drop of blood or broken bone.

Brick jumped back then, nearly falling down the stairs, as a particularly large Elf was catapulted towards him. He was mildly pleased to note that Blossom had latched on to his vest at the sudden motion, he wasn't too keen on letting her go just yet anyway.

Huffing in irritation, Brick dodged a few more flying bodies as he took to the air. Once out of the line of fire he took his time to look over the situation. The building looked ready to collapse at any second.

A soft note of what sounded like confusion came from near his chest then. Looking down at Blossom, he found her staring intently at a mass of elves on the roof top. Upon closer inspection he noticed that at the very center of all the mayhem was none other than the green eyed raven girl they had just met.

He had to admit, she was doing pretty damn well. Judging by what he could see she hadn't sustained ANY damage whatsoever. The girl hadn't even broken a sweat.

Dodging a punch, Buttercup dropped down into the crowd disappearing from sight for a moment. Seconds later a wall of elves went flying as she twirled the quarterstaff. Like she had been doing it her whole life, she spun it expertly, a ribbon of toxic green light flowing in its wake. The dark of the cavern mixed with the explosions of light from the building had Brick seeing nothing but green and, grudgingly, he had to admit that it looked awesome. Better than any light show he had seen before.

Buttercup's green light flowed in patterns he hadn't even thought of before as she fought off her foes. Barley making out a silhouette he watched her silently. She seemed to be able to move and bend at odd angles, though not as graceful as the redhead still captive in his arms, she had a style and grace all her own.

Swinging the staff horizontally, she whacked an Elf in the gut before bringing the other end up into an others chin. A third tried to rush her but missed as she twisted around flipping back to back right over him. Without landing, she planted one end of the staff into the roof and used it like a pole vault to literally catapult herself through a few more elves knocking them all out in the process. Upon landing, she dropped to her knees sliding under and knocking a few more would be attackers off their feet.

With an odd bend she flipped herself back onto her feet before kicking a short pudgy Elf clear off the building. The numbers finally seemed to dwindle as only a dozen or so elves charged her this time. Crouching down she sprung into the air, spinning like a top as she backflipped over them to the central point of the roof top. From there she twirled the staff in one hand, tossing it up before vanishing into thin air. It was like she had never even existed in the first place. She was just plain gone, he couldn't spot her anywhere.

"Brick…" Blossom's quiet voice chimed like bells as she tugged softly at his vest, trying to get his attention. She still looked out of it but obviously ok enough to finally talk and respond again. Glancing up at him with emotionless magenta orbs she turned away, pointing at something ahead of them. "Look…"

Following her outstretched arm he was shocked to notice what looked like a mini twister. It didn't stay mini for long though. Wind, from who knows where, began to churn, swirling into the growing twister. Flashes of green burst on the winds currents as it began to descend, sucking up all the elves scattered around the building. When the pull began to affect him Brick darted away, distancing himself from what he was sure was the ravens final attack.

Ducking behind a stalactite he wound one arm tightly around Blossom's waist, securing her to him, the other arm gripping into the rock surface. The winds buffeted against them, pushing and pulling, lashing their hair around like whips. After a minute or two an explosion of green had both teens turning away, eyes shut tight.

…

'Well, it's about damn time.' Brick's eyes flew open at the sound of Accendo's voice. He could see the bright red-orange bird in his peripheral vision, a limp Stiria clutched in his talons. Ducking down, Accendo twisted his head to look Stiria in the eye. 'Its nice to see they finally admit to their feelings, don't you agree?'

Now this is where Brick would normally throttle the damn bird until even his feathers turned purple but he couldn't bring himself to move. It was like his muscles had locked up tight and even if his limbs weren't frozen he was still stuck in place. The violent winds had caused both his and Blossom's long hair to tangle together, placing them into a rather awkward predicament as it wrapped them against each other.

'What is wrong with me today!' Brick mentally shouted. Either his brain or his body seemed to be acting weird ever since the fight with that monster. And all of it seemed to be centered around Blossom, first he gets mad at the Elf that caught her, then starts acting all nice against his better judgement. His stupid body works against him and he not only saves her but ends up protecting her, and now his damn arms wouldn't listen and let the fuck go! 'The Hel!'

Though every coherent thought told him to push her away, his brain didn't seem able to process them at the moment. He had no problems with proximity, he had personal space issues after all, but for some reason this seemed a little different. As close as she already was, he wanted her closer, and it didn't exactly help that she was still out of it and clinging to his vest like a life line, her every curve pressed against him.

'Ok, enough with the fluffy stuff. Save it for when were NOT in the middle of a fight.'

Blinking once, Blossom's eyes darted to the side to stare at Accendo. She seemed entranced by the bright color of his feathers, looking at him like a toddler that had just seen a cute puppy. A second later her hand shot out, snatching both birds out of the air. Brick found it both mildly amusing and disturbing at the same time when he noticed the way she looked at the two. Accendo on the other hand was very much frightened as the redheaded girl looked at him like, previously mentioned toddler, whom had just discovered the existence of a grasshopper and was debating what to do with him.

At least she wasn't like him, Brick could distinctly remember the first grasshopper he had captured. Thinking back he felt a little bad for the poor thing. Being the curious child he was Brick had pulled at the poor creatures legs, upon discovering that they came off, he had plucked each one. Once he realized that the insect would now die he then fed the twitching body to a bog frog without the slightest remorse.

Blossom was thankfully not that bad. Though her touch was a little rough, she honestly didn't look like she was trying to hurt the birds, as she pet Accendo followed by Stiria. Brick just watched quietly as he untangled the long strands of hair from their bodies.

Odd moments aside, he decided to take a look at the damage the area had sustained. Still keeping a close eye on Blossom, Brick peeked around the edge of the stalactite.

It looked like a war zone. Elves lay limp along floors, railings, the ground, one even hung off the corner of the roof. To top things off, perched ever so proudly at the center of it all was Buttercup. She sat at the edge of the roof, her legs dangling over the side as she kicked them playfully. One elbow pressed into her knee, propping her head up. Her eyes shined with amusement as she smirked mischievously.

Sliding out from behind the stalactite, Brick slowly drifted back down, landing on the roof with a tap. He made sure Blossom was standing firmly before releasing her though he kept close just in case.

"Hey Red, where were ya? Ya missed all the fun!" Buttercup called, waving to the two redheads when she noticed them. Standing up she walked over and ruffled Blossoms hair a bit. "By the way, that was some pretty good fighting Bloss. Not too shabby for your first bar brawl."

Surprisingly enough, Blossoms cheeks flushed scarlet as she nodded shyly. Her right hand, which was still clutching Bricks vest, tightened around the fabric. Leaning closer she shifted, tucking herself against his side as if trying to hide from Buttercup. The action gave Brick a sudden sense of déjà vu but before he could really think about it Buttercup started laughing.

"See, I knew you two were a couple."

"Would all of you stop that!" Brick snapped, he shot an irritated glare down when he noticed Accendo laughing along with the raven and her familiar. "Is it illegal for a guy and a girl to just be friends or something?"

"It is when you argue that much." Buttercup chuckled, holding her side. "The way she's clinging to you don't help much either."

"That's cause she's not thinking straight right now." Brick practically shouted. He snatched Stiria up and shoved her towards Buttercup as if the bird was all the answer he needed.

Buttercups grin faded a bit as she eyed the black bird for a moment, it's black feathered head swaying dazedly. With a shrug she turned around and hopped off the building. "Still don't get you off the hook."

"Aahhgg!" Brick let out something between an irate growl and a strangled shout. He would have followed if not for the tug on his clothes. Pausing for a moment he handed Stiria off to Blossom trying his damnedest not to look at her. 'The fuck is wrong with me today?'

Turning back he made his way to the edge of the building, Blossom clutched to the back of his vest as she tailed him like a duckling.

•••000•••

Wow, I haven't updated this in a while… sorry to all of you that were waiting for this. I was busy with a whole bunch of things and whenever I had the chance I was just to lazy to post this even though it's been sitting around collecting dust for nearly two months.

Well this is just a heads up but to those of you that have this on alert I'm sorry to say that you may receive false alerts because I'm going to be revising my previous chapters and reposting them.

Please leave a review. Thanks for reading. ^_^ 


	22. Argentum & Aurum

Chapter 14: Argentum & Aurum

My cell phone is evil… I just noticed that the stupid spell check has been changing all my "Barely's" into "Barley's"… I'm gonna have to go back and change all that…

Well I'm happy to note that I got four reviews for my last chapter this time and I must say that is quite the improvement for me who's only been uploading for a few months. Especially since I'm busy and don't update too often. So I'd like to send a short thank you to my anonymous reviewer Swimqueen for telling me to hurry and helping me get my butt back into gear and writing this chapter.

Disclaimer: Still don't own the Powerpuffs but I can always dream… cause seriously, if I did they would have a second season where they are all grew up into kick ass teenagers. (Randomly starts dancing to TMNT theme song)

•••000•••

'Glad to see you held back this time.'

"Well I wouldn't want to accidentally kill them."

'Your first steps towards subtlety, there IS hope for you after all!' Volnus made a mock squealing sound of glee before Buttercup swatted at her.

The scaly familiar promptly bit down on her partners finger drawing a yep from the raven. Yanking her hand away, Buttercup shook it out to rid herself of the mild pain. Only Volnus could wound her without even trying. 'Stupid bat.'

A chorus of quiet moans drew her attention back to the situation at hand. Emerald orbs lazily scanned over the area until she found her targets. Waltzing over many unconscious bodies, Buttercup stopped at the foot of one of the larger Elves.

"Argentum, get your fat ass up. I know your awake." Buttercup called out evenly, kicking the man hard enough for him to feel but light enough that it wouldn't hurt him. "Argentum…don't make me mad."

…

Cautiously, the man partially opened a deep emerald eye, glancing around before allowing both to open completely. Mid-length black hair covered his forehead, streaks of silver highlighting the dark locks.

"Hey, Ventus." Eyes landing on Buttercup, his mouth pulled back into a broad grin, ivory white teeth glowing faintly against his dark tan skin. "How ye doin… I'm still alive righ'?"

"Nah, I'm a newly appoin'ed Valkyrie 'ere ta take ya ta the afterlife." Smirking mischievously, Buttercup offered her hand to him as he sat up.

He eyed her apprehensively for a moment, deep green orbs sparkling with ill-concealed amusement. Grin cracking into a contagious smile, he tossed his head back howling in laughter as he clasped her wrist. "If ye were a Valkyrie lass, I'd follow ye anywhere."

"I'm sure you would ya perv." Buttercup couldn't help but laugh along as she helped him to his feet. "Now what kinda trouble did ya get into this time?"

"Trouble?" Argentum widened his eyes in a way that, were it on anyone besides the burly man, would have looked innocent. "Ventus, you would accuse me of trouble?"

"Don't even try those puppy dog eyes on me, makes you look like a troll." Buttercup stated blandly, turning around she walked over to another Elf. "Aurum, get up before someone starts drawing on your face."

"Aah, groun's noh very comfor'ble anyway." the Elf murmured in a heavily accented voice before he rolled onto his back. Sitting up, Aurum propped himself on his elbows, brushing a lock of gold streaked black hair from his face. "Argentum, ye ass, look ah wha' ya caused." he grumbled, gesturing to all the damage.

"Me? You star'ed it ya o'ergrown wood gnome." Argentum argued back.

"Wood gnome? Tha's rich comin' from the guy thah looks like a trolls behin'."

"Oh, shut up you two. Ya both look like bride's of Grendel anyway." Buttercup snapped over the arguing Elves, shutting them both up effectively. "Now if you don't mind. Role call! Anyone not dead, hands up!" She shouted loudly, voice easily echoing throughout the area.

Another chorus of groans sounded as most all of the scattered Elves raised a calloused hand or in one case a hooked stump.

'Heads up. Angry jotunn at eight o clock.'

"Ok… I'm gonna very calmly ask, WHAT THE HEL IS GOING ON HERE?" turning around, Buttercup once again came face to chest with a very angry redhead.

Huffing lightly in irritation, Buttercup redirected her attention higher. It was pretty annoying for her, whom had grown up most of her life being the tallest, to have to look up at someone.

If she were a normal person, Buttercup might have flinched when she locked eyes with the furious teen. Eyes blazing a deep bloody red, Brick towered a good foot over her, glaring in anger and more than a little confusion. She had to hand it to him, fire jotunn's could really look intimidating when they wanted to. But she wasn't a normal person, this stuck up Muspell brat didn't intimidate her in the slightest.

"Ey, easy guy, no need ta geh worked up again." Aurum chuckled, stepping in between the two before Buttercup could blow up at Brick.

"Yah, were all frien's ere." Argentum tossed a beefy arm over Aurum's shoulder for emphasis. "Who wouhn't love a couple a wood gnomes an trolls?"

"Shuh up ya o'ergrown Dwarf, ah ain't no wood gnome." Aurum grunted, smacking Argentum's arm away.

"Who ya callen' a dwarf, ya dwarf? I'm taller en you." Argentum grumbled back indignantly.

"An I'm still older."

"No yer noh! I'm older!"

"Ugh. Here we go again." Buttercup shook her head, sighing in exasperation. Stepping around the arguing Elves, Buttercup faced the angry redhead again.

"Long story short, these two idiots are brothers, twins to be exact. The shorter one with the gold hair is Aurum." ("I'm noh short!" "Yes ya are!") ignoring the grumbling pair, she forged on. "Argentum is the one with the silver hair, he's also the younger of the two." ("Eh, I'm tha older one!" "No, ask mum, I'm older.") "They both own the bar over there and can never agree with each other."

"That still docent explain why we-" Brick gestured to himself, Blossom, and Buttercup. "were fighting them." here he gestured at the rest of the Elves that were slowly getting up. "The Hel was the point?"

"If there's one thing you'll learn about Dark Elves, it's that we like to fight." Buttercup stated bluntly. "The easiest way to get through to us is through your fists. These two nimrods probably couldn't agree on something again so, of course, they got into a fight."

"Still not explaining our part in this." Brick grumbled, obviously still angry but noticeably less now that Blossom was glued to his side again.

Grinning smugly, Buttercup snickered. He really wasn't fooling anyone. "If ya haven't noticed they get a little carried away and I'm here to play referee. Whenever things get too out of control I settle it."

"Settle? We just beat them up."

"Exactly."

"How does that settle anything?"

"Well their not fighting anymore."

"Then what are they doing now? Having a tea party?" Brick questioned sarcastically, waving a hand towards the loudly arguing Elves as they began to shove one another. A second later Aurum had Argentum in a head lock.

"Oi! Break it up you two! Did we not just settle this?" Buttercup snapped, grabbing the two by their collars she lifted them both into the air. The two large men yelped, momentarily startled as she dropped them, a good two feet, on either side of her.

Upon landing they both spring back to their feet, gaping in horror as they finally noticed the ruined building. With a simultaneous shout of "MY BAR!" they dashed off towards it, stepping on a few Elves along the way.

"Weird…" Blossom mumbled, finally speaking again. Still looking lost to the world, the smaller redhead stared after the two men as they scurried about assessing the damage.

Buttercup couldn't help the slight twitch in her lip as Blossom, looking like an innocent two year old, sent a wide eyed glance at the taller redhead. Brick on the other hand looked ready to panic, as if he were afraid she would fall apart at any moment.

"Hey, you wanna go take a look?" Before Buttercup even realized what she said the words had already escaped her mouth.

A pair of furious red and curious pink orbs landed on her then. Blossom turned back to Brick for a moment, eyes wide and innocent as if asking him for permission.

Grumbling something too low for the raven to hear, Brick's shoulders slumped in defeat. Blossom, in turn, grabbed his hand and promptly dragged him over to Buttercup's side, pink orbs sparkling with a childish excitement.

"Shouldn't she have gotten everything back under control by now?" Buttercup questioned aloud, wondering why Blossom was still acting stupid.

Buttercup wasn't in denial or anything, she'd admit to loosing control on occasions and would start acting stupidly but she was always fine after a few minutes. Blossom on the other hand had been like this for a while now. Even someone with horrible control over their familiars should have been fine by now, she wasn't a kid anymore. The only reason she would still be acting like this is if…

"She can't help it, Blossom's only had Stiria for three, four days at the most." Brick grunted unhappily, confirming Buttercups suspicions.

'How old IS she?' Volnus squawked.

"What? Four days? How old is she?" Buttercup echoed, surprised emerald orbs glanced up at Bricks crimson ones. Most people had their familiars by the time they were fourteen, this girl couldn't be that young.

"Blossom had a few…issues before." Bricks voice dropped, obviously unwilling to divulge further information on the subject. "She only summoned Stiria the day before we left to come here."

'Well, that explains things, I just hope she's not like you.' Volnus hissed. 'Hopefully she'll be back to normal in a few hours instead of days.'

Normally she would have argued a little, but Buttercup decided she just didn't care. Let the stuck up prick keep his little secrets, it wasn't any of her business.

Brushing him off, she picked her way over to the bar, Blossom close behind her, Brick trailing no more than two feet from the girl at all times.

•••***•••

"No! Blossom don't drink that!"

"But its strawberry!"

"Ah, come on lad, let the lass have some, jus a lil won hurt."

"Yah, IF it was 'jus a lil' but it's NOT! She already had THREE mugs, and she's tripping over her own two feet!"

"No I'm not!"

"Yes, yes you are!"

"But it tastes sooooo good!"

'Aww geez, you gotta see this.' Volnus gave a raspy laugh, wriggling in mirth.

"That's what you said earlier." Buttercup grumbled, tanking another glass of apple tasting something or other. She wasn't quite sure what it was anymore.

'But its funny this time.'

"You said that earlier too and I got an eye full of Argentum's ass after Blossom knocked him over."

'Just look.'

Turning around, Buttercup smirked. It was a little funny, if for no other reason than that Brick was having a hard time. Apparently he had tried to take Blossom's drink away, the smaller girl was having none of that though.

They looked like a couple of siblings playing keep away. Blossom stretching and jumping for the mug in Bricks hand as he held it high over their heads. The other hand firmly on her head, keeping her from jumping high enough to reach it.

It didn't exactly help that she was only his shoulder height but that didn't seem to deter the girl. Placing a hand on his shoulder Blossom jumped, using him as leverage to force herself higher, finger tips whacking the mug off balance.

"Shit!" Brick cursed, flailing around in an attempt to not spill anything. Moments later Blossom knocked him off balance, the two toppling over the barstool. "Ouch…gak!"

Buttercup really did laugh then as the mug landed on his head with a wet 'slop', drenching him in it's pink frothy liquid. A some of the other Elves joined in, a few chuckling, others outright laughing as the angry Muspell boy fumed, steaming himself dry.

"Sorry Brick…" Blossom mumbled stifling a giggle, not looking very apologetic.

Brick angrily snatched the mug off his head and chucked it at Argentum's head, effectively cutting off his laughter. Startled, the stubby man flopped back over his chair, falling to the floor beside them, his mug flying off into the crowds of Elves.

'Woohoo, here we go again!' Volnus squeaked, wriggling happily as the mug landed on a stalky man who angrily threw it and his own in another direction. Before long there were mugs flying all over the room, ale and other drinks spraying over every surface. 'I love this place.'

"I thin' is abou' time ye goh them out o' here Ventus." Aurum's deep voice voice called.

"Aww, but were just getting started." Buttercup chuckled, grinning at the new round of playful fights as silver and gold teamed up on opposite sides of the bar.

"Aye, buh is ob'vious tha the lil lass o'er there isn' doin so well." Gesturing to Blossom, Aurum shook his head a bit. "She still don know wah she's doin an the lads a lil too o'er protec'ive for his own good. He looks rea'ey ta explode."

"Between you and me, I think he's always like that." Buttercup stated, eyeing the boy who seemed to give off the aura of an angry mother hen who's chick was just caught. "Besides, what am I supposed to do about them?"

"Well ye ha'v been takin care o' em since the o'er day."

"Ahh, spoil sport." Buttercup grumbled, getting up and walking over to the others. "Come on hot head, were getting out of here."

"Well it's about time." Holding Blossom close to keep anything from hitting her, Brick followed Buttercup as she made her way to the door, pushing aside the random Elf in their path.

"Bye guys!" Blossom shouted, waving her hands enthusiastically before Brick could get her through the door. "I'll come back soon!"

Both Buttercup and Volnus chuckled as a few muffled 'Bye lass' and 'See ya pinky's echoed through the now closed bar door. Brick mumbling obscenities and something that sounded like 'not if I can help it' under his breath.

'Well today was eventful.' Volnus chirped. 'Think we can keep em?'

"What?"

'Those two, well maybe not the boy but the girl is pretty funny to be around.'

"Yah sure, why not. Well follow them wherever it is their going." Buttercup mumbled sarcastically.

'Ok. When ya gonna start packin?'

"You realize I was being sarcastic right?"

'You realize I'm sick of living in a cave right?'

"Touché… I'll think about it."

•••000•••

Man… I've really gotta stop being lazy… I'm such a procrastinator it's pathetic. I think I just need new inspiration. Well anyways I'll try to update sooner. I won't guarantee anything but I'll try. And before anyone asks, I have no clue what this chapter was about, I think I'm just a little too addicted to the 'Fairy Tail' manga by Hiro Mashima.

On a side note. Holly cow. Never judge people that make arts and crafts. I never thought it would be so that hard to make a simple stuffed animal. Boy was I wrong, I spent all of yesterday and all I got was the top of it's head finished. It isn't even close to being finished and I'm already going crazy over that stupid needle and thread. First the string won't go on then you end up stabbing yourself by accident and when you finally think it's over you realize you sewed up the wrong end...so depressing. But I don't want to give up!

Thanks for reading, please leave a review! ^_^ 


	23. Chapter 23

Chapter 15: Hiatus

Oh goodness, I feel like I'm complaining but I don't really care right now. I've been having a lot of headaches for a long time now, I even went to the doctors for it. Apparently I get what he calls 'Tension headaches' and it's caused by exposure to bright lights and loud noises…all I could think is 'really?' that's the worst thing a person like me could possibly have. I live in one of the absolute brightest places on earth and have parents that make screaming their hobby. It's amazing I haven't died of a migraine yet.

On the plus side it gives me an excuse to stay in what my dad has dubbed my 'bat cave' which is actually my bedroom that I pretty much closed off to the point that it blacked out so bad you can only ever see shapes. This used to help for a while but I've still been getting headaches and recently they've been getting worse then finally, like a slap in the face, it hit me. My wisdom teeth, that grew in nearly two to three years ago, have been the cause! I didn't know they could cause headaches but they really do and let me just say it's insane. Like a constant throbbing in the front of your skull because you mind is constantly telling you your teeth are pushing together and have too much pressure. Meh, anyways I should stop complaining, probably no one reads these anyways.

Disclaimer: I do not own the PPG RRB or Norse Mythology, _ no matter how much I wish I did.

•••000•••

"Why me? Who did I piss off?"

'Maybe it's Odin's way of getting back at you for calling him an old buzzard.'

"That was like days ago already, I don't think he'd wait this- Pink, I told you not to touch that!"

"But it's shiny!"

"Yes, very shiny, and it's also very sharp." grabbing the tiny redhead by the wrist, Brick pulled her hands away from one of the many weapons Buttercup had scattered around her home. It seemed like he had been at this for hours now.

The green eyed Elf had brought him and Blossom back to her home and after a quick tour, which was really just her vague description of the place, she had somehow disappeared. Normally he wouldn't have cared but she had vanished without his knowing and…well… he was just grateful that Blossom wouldn't remember any of this later or he'd never outlive the embarrassment.

'Somebodys thinking again.'

"What?" Glancing at Accendo as he sat down, Brick hardly registered the fact that he was still holding on to Blossom's wrist till she flopped down across his outstretched legs. He jumped a little but she didn't seem to care, rolling over him to reach for Noctis.

'Your thinking about earlier.' Accendo sang, swishing his tail feathers back and forth, completely ignoring Stiria as she snapped at them. The large bird had a smug look about him as he chuckled over his partners misfortune.

"No I'm not." Brick denied, folding his arms with a huff.

'Your turning red, or maybe it's cause of her?' The large bird teased as Blossom continued to wrestle Noctis rolling onto the now heavily blushing boys lap. The bird couldn't even remember the last time he had seen the boy so flustered, though he couldn't really blame him, he could still laugh about it. 'Or perhaps your thinking about something you shouldn't?'

"Unlike you, I'm not a pervert." Brick hissed, glaring at Accendo before scooping the girl up and moving her to the ground beside him.

'Since you've obviously forgotten let me remind you that familiars are embodiments of their partners, in other words, I am you idiot.'

"And let ME remind YOU that your a legendary, you've got your OWN personality idiot."

'Ahh, but it's still affected by and based on yours.'

"Hel no, your a perv all on your own ya whacked out feather brain. Ain't got nothin to do with me."

'Id beg to differ.' Ruffling his feathers, Accendo ignored the angry boy as he snapped obscenities at him. Turning his attention to Stiria, Accendo fluttered his tail feathers again, still mildly amused at how cat like the little black bird acted as she snapped at the long waggling feathers.

•••***000***•••

Look what I found sitting around. Ok so here's the deal, a know a few of you really liked this story so I'm being nice and not taking it down like I planned before. I reread a chapter or two and felt like it wasn't what I wanted. Unfortunately I haven't really had the urge to write this particular story in a long time now.

I don't want to end up one of those authors who write just to write cause I can guarantee this story will end up boring. So I'm letting you all know now that I'm officially placing this story under the hiatus status and just updating it whenever I get back into it again so your not constantly waiting or checking if there's an update on it. I'll try my best to redo things and start uploading again as soon as I can but if there's one thing that's completely true it's that little quote I found about good writers being 3% talent and 97% not getting distracted by the Internet. Cause to be completely honest with all of you I have nearly a dozen story's just floating around that I haven't finished yet. I don't want to be the author with a million ideas, that people may or may not like, and not one finished. I get annoyed when I find good writers that have a bunch if good stuff that they don't finish and end up deleting so if I do post those up it'll be cause I finish one of my other story's or its already complete.

Basically I just write what I feel like writing that day and run with the idea for as long as I can until its no longer fun and then put it down until its interesting again. I don't like throwing things away, oh gosh that sounded like my mom… hoarder in the making, I just put it somewhere until I need it again. It's just that sometimes I loose it and need to find it first.


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